Body mass index and labour outcome in Egyptian women.

We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study to evaluate the impact of body mass index (BMI) on maternal medical disorders, progress of labour, mode of delivery and neonatal outcome in Cairo University hospital between September 2012 and March 2013. A total of 574 parturients were divided into two groups: group A with a BMI < 30 and group B with a BMI ≥ 30. A statistically significant difference was found in favour of group B, regarding medical disorders, especially gestational hypertension and pre- eclampsia (p < 0.001), caesarean deliveries (p < 0.001) and neonatal birth weight (p = 0.001). There was no difference regarding gestational age at delivery, progress of labour (cervical dilatation, cervical effacement, duration of first and second stage of labour) and neonatal outcome (Apgar score at 1 and 5 min and neonatal deaths). Our conclusion is that increased maternal BMI is associated with an increased incidence of medical disorders during pregnancy, caesarean section rate and fatal macrosomia.