Abstract

THE IMPACT OF INCREASED PRE-PREGNANT ADIPOSITY ON BIRTH WEIGHT INDICES

Shaymaa Mohammed Arrar* and Yusra Waheed Abdul Hasan

Abstract

The major and most important findings of this study support the evidence that mothers with higher BMI before pregnancy tend to give birth to heavier babies and that greater gestational weight gain has a greater effect on birth weight than pre-pregnancy BMI. Pregnant women with higher pre-pregnancy BMI and weight gain during pregnancy had newborns with higher birth weights. The greatest positive effect of gestational weight gain on birth weight occurred directly, with little mediation via cesarean delivery. There was also a positive direct effect of pre-pregnancy BMI on birth weight. However, mothers with high pre-pregnancy BMI who gained less weight during pregnancy had children with lower birth weight. These findings support the importance of improving the health care of women of reproductive age by including them in family planning programs with nutritional monitoring and education, so that they will be able to maintain an appropriate nutritional status when they plan to become pregnant and maintain an appropriate weight gain during pregnancy, with a reduced risk of complications for both mother and neonate.

Keywords: Pre-Pregnant Adiposity, Birth Weight Indices.