Hope R. Farquharson
National University, USA
Title: Maternal characteristics and gestational weight gain patterns
Biography
Biography: Hope R. Farquharson
Abstract
Background:
Healthcare providers are critical facilitators to address the Maternal Infant Child Health (MICH-13) Healthy People 2020 objective of increasing the proportion of mothers who stay within the recommended weight gain parameters during their pregnancies1 and are tasked with developing substantial interventions to decrease the prevalence of adverse outcomes from inappropriate GWG that can lead to ill effects.2 The purpose of this study was to examine gestational weight gain (GWG) patterns among a group of racially, ethnically, economically diverse women as it related to the IOM Guidelines.
Methods
This retrospective cross-sectional study from a sample of women (N = 4,500) who gave birth between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2012 in Northern San Diego County. There were 1,397 mothers who delivered singleton babies were assessed; 621 cases were randomly selected and 320 met the inclusion criteria. Information on maternal socio-demographic were obtained from the electronic medical record.
Results
The sample skewed towards younger women; approximately 58% were 29 years of age or less. Overall, almost half (43%) of the births were to women who identified themselves as Latina. Over 48% of women received MediCal. Seventy-one women (25%) reported Spanish as their primary language. More Latina women were receiving MediCal (p<0.001), saw a CNW rather than a physician (p<0.001), and were single (p<0.001). Across racial/ethnic categories there were no significant differences in age or weight gain. Almost half of the participants were either overweight or obese pre-pregnant. More Than two-thirds of the sample (69.1%) gained weight outside the recommend range. Pre-pregnancy BMI (Fisher’s X2 10.4; p=.03) significantly correlated to GWG within Guidelines. The association of having a certified nurse midwife and staying within Guidelines demonstrated an interesting trend toward statistical significance (p=.09). There was a trending association among those women who gained weight above the guidelines and cesarean delivery (p=0.07) and those women who gained weight Outside the guidelines had babies weighing significantly more at birth (p<0.001).
Conclusions
Women are not only not adhering to the 2009 IOM GWG recommendations but began pregnancy outside of a recommended weight with overweight (35.8%) and obese (14.4%). More studies are needed to assist in the development of better strategies to help healthcare providers motivate women to gain weight within IOM GWG guidelines.