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Socio‐demographic and obstetrical correlates of pre‐pregnancy body mass index and gestational weight gain
Author(s) -
Bogaerts A.,
Van den Bergh B.,
Nuyts E.,
Martens E.,
Witters I.,
Devlieger R.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
clinical obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.64
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 1758-8111
pISSN - 1758-8103
DOI - 10.1111/cob.12004
Subject(s) - medicine , pregnancy , body mass index , overweight , odds ratio , obstetrics , weight gain , confidence interval , obesity , gestation , mass index , demography , body weight , genetics , sociology , biology
Summary Both pre‐pregnancy body mass index ( BMI ) and gestational weight gain ( GWG ) are important determinants of a healthy pregnancy outcome and may show important variation. To study the influence of socio‐demographic and obstetrical correlates on pre‐pregnancy BMI and GWG , data of 54 022 singleton term pregnancies were analysed using adjusted regression models. In 2009, in the N orthern region of B elgium, one‐third of women were overweight (21.6%) or obese (10.1%) and GWG as recommended by the I nstitute of M edicine occurred in only 28% of obese women. A high pre‐pregnancy BMI was significantly associated with low maternal education, high maternal age and multiparity, belonging to ethnic minority groups and a lower professional state. Compared to adequate GWG , excessive GWG was more common in younger (<20 years) women, with higher pre‐pregnancy BMI and pregnancy‐induced hypertension. Moreover, younger (20–24 years), single women, belonging to ethnic minority groups showed higher odds for excessive as well as insufficient GWG , while those with high/highest educational level had lower odds for excessive (odds ratio [ OR ] 0.76; confidence interval [ CI ] 0.72–0.80) and insufficient ( OR 0.93; CI 0.89–0.98) GWG . The results of this study highlight the scale of the problem of maternal obesity and excessive GWG for this region and offer opportunities to target educational campaigns and intervention programmes in the clinical setting.