Overweight women more likely to lose healthy babies

OVERWEIGHT women are more likely to miscarry healthy babies than women of a normal weight, according to a study out today.

Those whose body mass index was greater than 25 were found to be more likely to lose healthy babies in early pregnancy. A BMI of 18 to 24.9 is considered normal; above 25 is overweight; and over 30 is obese.

The study, led by Dr Inna Landres from Stanford University School of Medicine in California, examined DNA from foetuses that were miscarried in the first eight weeks of pregnancy among 204 women. All the women had attended an academic centre between 1999 and 2008 for fertility counselling.

Experts looked at the foetal tissue to work out which foetuses had chromosomal abnormalities - a major cause of miscarriage. The rest of the foetuses were regarded as normal.

The research found that 53 per cent of infants miscarried by overweight women were normal. Among women with a healthy weight, 37 per cent of miscarried babies were healthy.

Dr Landres said possible causes were insulin resistance, which affects a woman's hormonal state at the time of pregnancy. Levels of oestrogen and androgen, which are raised in overweight women, may also play a part.