Evaluation of Maternal Weight Gain During Pregnancy and Its Association With Birth Weight in Isfahan City



Mohebi S¹ ; Sharifirad G² ; Kargar M³ ; Shahsiah M¹ ; Ghasemzadeh MJ⁴ ; Mozafari A⁴ ; Tabaraie Y⁵
Source: Life Science Journal Published:2013

Abstract

Introduction: One of the most important changes in pregnancy is maternal weight gain. As today there are inconsistent views of how much weight gain is optimal, this matter is frequently discussed and surveyed. A few studies have been performed about pregnancy weight gain and correlation with birth weight in Iran. So, the aim of this study was appointment of maternal weight gain in pregnancy and correlation with infant birth weight. Method and material: This was a descriptive-analytic cross sectional study. Data was gathered by recording on paper. They were elicited and recorded through family health files. Pregnancy weight gain was obtained by 225 mother files that were referred health centre, using hierarchical-step cluster sampling. Data were analyzed through SPSS software, defining significant level at P < 0.05. Result: Mean of weight gain was 11.73 kg during pregnancy. Moreover, mean of birth weight was 3193 gr while approximately 7.11% of them were LBW and 6.22% were more than 4000gr. Mean BMI was25.3 kg/m2 in study group. Pre-pregnancy BMI and pregnancy weight gain was significantly correlated with birth weight gain, through computing Pearson's correlation coefficient. Discussion: Although mean of weight gain in pregnancy was about optimal value, there was established that noticeable percent of mothers with impotence and normal weight couldn't optimally gain recommended weight In BMI subgroup. In spite of considerable percent of mothers diagnosed with overweight and obese had weight gain more than standard goal, there were direct significant association between pregnancy weight gains with infant birth weight.