An increasingly obese population is causing Utah's infant mortality rate to tick upward.
While numbers have not shot up, officials are worried about potential long-term trends as the state and the nation continue a waddling march toward more girth.
Infant mortality in obese Utah women has climbed 17 percent in the past three years. To be fair, the number is small to begin with, and Utah has one of the lowest rates in the country. But people like Lois Bloebaum, manager of the reproductive heath program for the state Department of Health, are trying to fix the problem before it gets out of control.
"Women who are obese often have a lot of underlying health conditions," Bloebaum says.
That includes diabetes and chronic hypertension that can lead to the major cause of infant mortality -- premature birth.
"If we could address obesity, we could likely reduce infant mortality rates," Bloebaum said.
The department does have several programs going to bring obesity rates down and recently received a federal grant to help out.
"We've been working really hard at that for the last couple of years," she said.
Telling someone that they're obese is tricky, says Donna Dizon-Townson, co-director of maternal-fetal medicine at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.
"It's a very sensitive issue. It's an even more sensitive issue for women," she said. "It has to be approached in the right fashion."
It can be difficult to maintain a regular schedule after a pregnancy, with the late nights, the breast feeding and the juggling of things that a mother was doing before the new baby arrived. Some women have trouble losing the weight they gained during pregnancy and then gain even more with a subsequent pregnancy. Dizon-Townson said that women need make sure they're getting good nutrition and avoiding a "sedentary" lifestyle, including finding a family friendly exercise facility if necessary.
"It's hard for women, you know," she said. "They're trying to juggle it all."
Obesity rates nationally hover between a low of 18 percent in Colorado to 32 percent in Mississippi. Utah's obesity rate is about 23 percent.
Two-thirds of Americans are considered obese or overweight as defined by the body mass index. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BMI is a number calculated from a person's weight and height and can provide a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people.
Like smoking, Bloebaum says that solving the obesity problem isn't going to happen quickly.
Posted in Local on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 12:00 am Updated: 7:36 am.
© Copyright 2009, Daily Herald, Provo, UT | Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
