Results of a new study suggest that the women, who are planning for becoming pregnant, must drop the extra weight they are carrying, as they have higher odds to give birth to babies with some birth defects.

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Judith Rankin, the lead author of the study, says: “Our study has found that obesity in pregnant women increases the risk of birth defects in babies they bear.”

The study has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Feb.11 issue.

There are many previous studies whose results show that obesity in pregnant women can become the cause of various problems including gestational diabetes, higher risk of blood clotting, hypertension, infections and Cesarean delivery. Similarly, babies born to these women may be too large and have a higher risk for perinatal death.

Obesity in pregnant women is also associated with different congenital anomalies like spina bifida, defects in neural tube, cleft lip, heart defects etc.

The background information in the study shows that various birth defects in the babies serve as the biggest factor behind infant mortality and still birth.

To know more about that link, Rankin and team looked for almost 2000 studies that had information on birth defects and early pregnancy weight. The researchers reviewed 39 studies to conduct the research. They found that obese mother had 87% higher risk of giving birth to babies with birth defects than the women with normal body weight.