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Maternal obesity is a risk factor for cesarean delivery, complications of which affect obese women disproportionately. In a retrospective cohort study designed to estimate the effects of obesity on labor progression, investigators compared duration of labor as a function of body-mass index (BMI) among women with full-term, singleton pregnancies who completed the first stage of labor.
Among 5204 women, 53.6% were obese (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) and 10.8% had BMIs >40. Obese women were older, had higher gravidity and parity, were more often black, and had more medical comorbidities than normal-weight women. After adjusting for parity, labor induction, race, and birth weight >4000 g, median time to progress from 4 cm to complete dilation was longer for o…