More newborn babies die in Britain than anywhere else in Western Europe, with maternal obesity a significant factor, according to research.

Tommy’s, the charity that sponsors research into miscarriage and premature birth, said that data gathered across the EU suggested that Britain had similar rates of neonatal mortality to Estonia and Hungary. All other Western European countries perform better.

There are 5.1 deaths per thousand babies in Britain, compared with 3.1 per thousand in Sweden. Premature birth is the single biggest cause of death among babies, with about 1,300 dying each year because they were born too soon. This compares with about 930 per year dying of congenital abnormalities, 350 from infection and 241 from cot death.

Professor Lucilla Poston, head of maternal and foetal research at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, who compiled the research on behalf of Tommy’s, said that with obesity rates rising in Britain, the problem of premature births looked set to increase. “British women are the fattest in Europe. People think overweight women give birth to big babies, but actually they are far more prone to pre-eclampsia, which means premature, underweight babies,” she said. “Obesity, added to the growing number of IVF multiple births, means that the problem of premature birth is likely to get worse.”

Twins and triplets account for about one quarter of premature births each year. However, research carried out at St Thomas’ has discovered the existence of a molecule that is responsible for triggering early labour in multiple births, raising hopes that treatment will soon be available to prevent it. Meanwhile, Professor Poston will present research next month calling for an end to a technique commonly used to try to prevent premature birth, known as a “cervical stitch”.

Women who have an “incompetent”, or long, cervix diagnosed by ultrasound scans are routinely treated with a stitch to shorten it.

She said that her research had found no link between this treatment and staving off premature birth.

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