Maternal Prepregnancy Overweight and Obesity and the Pattern of Labor Progression in Term Nulliparous Women

Abstract

Labor progression in overweight and obese women was significantly slower than that of normal-weight women before 6 cm of cervical dilation. Given that nearly one half of women of childbearing age are either overweight or obese, it is critical to consider differences in labor progression by maternal prepregnancy BMI before additional interventions are performed.