Abstract
In Japan, pregnant women are diagnosed as obese if the prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) is ≥25 kg/m(2). However, this is different from other countries. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) classifies prepregnancy BMI as underweight (BMI <18.5 kg/m(2)), normal weight (BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m(2)), overweight (BMI 25.0-29.9 kg/m(2)), and obese (BMI ≥30 kg/m(2)). In addition to these four categories, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) classifies prepregnancy BMI as obesity class I (BMI 30.0-34.9 kg/m(2)), obesity class II (BMI 35.0-39.9 kg/m(2)), and obesity class III (BMI ≥40 kg/m(2)). We conducted a retrospective cohort study to compare obstetric outcomes by the three different categorizations in 6,066 pregnant women who gave birth between 2010 and 2019. According to Japanese classification, 668 (11%) pregnant women were classified as obese, and significant odds ratios (OR) were observed for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP; 3.32), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM; 3.39), large for gestational age (LGA; 2.91), and macrosomia (4.01). According to the classification of IOM, 474 (7.8%) and 194 (3.1%) were classified as overweight and obese pregnant women, respectively. Specifically, a high OR was observed in obese pregnant women for HDP (5.85) and GDM (5.0). ACOG classification categorized 474 (7.8%) pregnant women as overweight, 141 (2.3%) as obesity class I, 41 (0.6%) as obesity class II, and 12 (0.2%) as obesity class III. In obesity class III, a significantly high OR was observed for HDP (12.89), GDM (8.37), and LGA (5.74). The Japanese classification may be useful for low-risk pregnancies, whereas IOM classification may be applicable to identify high-risk pregnancies. ACOG criteria may be useful for step-wise assessments of HDP and GDM risks in Japanese pregnant women; however, the number of class II and III obese pregnant women was small.