Background.

Excess of gestational weight gain is a risk factor for short and long term health implications for women and their offspring. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of excess of gestational weight gain (EGWG) among pregnant women attending the social security system, and to assess the factors associated with it.

Methods.

The inclusion criteria for this study were women attending immediate puerperium, older than 18yo with a single delivery, and delivery of a live, single birth, mothers who sought prenatal visits at or before the 20th week of gestation with a minimum of 8 total visits, and who had a baseline weight measure before pregnancy. Categorization of BMI was done according to WHO classification and EGWG was assessed by using the Institute of Medicine guidelines. Associations between EGWG and maternal and newborn variables were assessed by odds ratio and Chi-squared test.

Results.

A total of 438 women were included. The overall prevalence of EGWG was 43%, and a higher prevalence was observed in higher BMI subgroups. Significant dependence was found between EGWG and new-born weight categories and after stratification of macrosomic vs non-macrosomic delivery (OR=2.2 (CI95%=1.2-4.2). Further, an association was found between EGWG and threatened abortion (7.7%).

Conclusions.

A very high prevalence (43%) of EGWG with a higher likelihood of having macrocosmic new-borns was found. Additionally, an association was found between EGWG and threatened abortion.

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