Impact of maternal obesity on neonatal heart rate and cardiac size.

Background: Maternal obesity may increase offspring risk of cardiovascular disease. We assessed the impact of maternal obesity on cardiac structure and function in newborns as a marker of fetal cardiac growth.

Methods: Neonates born to mothers of healthy weight (body mass index (BMI) 20-25 kg/m, n=56) and to mothers who were obese (BMI ≥30 kg/m, n=31) underwent 25-minute continuous ECG recording and non-sedated, free-breathing cardiac MRI within 72 hours of birth.