Short Communication
Maternal Obesity: An Important Contributor to Congenital Anomalies, Infant and Child Mortality with Negative Economic Impact
| Arindam Bharadwaz* and Gayatri Madhab | |
| Department of Radiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark | |
| Corresponding Author : | Arindam Bharadwaz M.D. Department of Radiology, Aarhus University Hospital 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark Tel: 004550279696 E-mail: arindambz@gmail.com |
| Received: December 28, 2015; Accepted: January 20, 2016; Published: January 25, 2016 | |
| Citation: Bharadwaz A, Madhab G (2016) Maternal Obesity: An Important Contributor to Congenital Anomalies, Infant and Child Mortality with Negative Economic Impact. J Preg Child Health 2:213. doi:10.4172/2376-127X.1000213 | |
| Copyright: © 2016 Bharadwaz A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Obesity is a leading risk factor for global death and its incidence and prevalence, including maternal obesity is increasing globally. Obesity is linked to certain congenital anomalies viz. neural tube defects (NTD), congenital heart disease (CHD) and orofacial anomalies. Congenital anomalies in general are a leading cause of infant and child mortality but they are on decline in many countries. However maternal obesity on the other hand is on the rise. As a result, the share of maternal obesity contributing to congenital anomalies is likely to increase. Maternal obesity can therefore significantly contribute to infant/child mortality and can have seriously negative economic, social and psychological impact.
