Abstract
Objectives:
This study aimed to examine the relationship between total pregnancy weight gain, maternal educational level, working status and infant birth weight among mothers and infants in urban health centers in Rasht, Iran.
Design:
Pregnant women from six different public health centers in urban areas were studied in a prospective design. Data on women's age, parity, level of education, working status, infant birth weight, mothers’ height, and prepregnancy weight and total weight gain during pregnancy were collected. The subjects were grouped based on their prepregnancy BMI and according to Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendation for total pregnancy weight gain. The subjects were also categorized based on their years of schooling as less, intermediately and highly educated. In this study women were considered as either housewives or employed.
Setting:
Public health centers in urban areas in Rasht, Iran.
Subjects:
A total of 1914 pregnant women were studied.
Results:
These data showed that pregnancy weight gain was not different between women with normal prepregnancy weight and underweight when educational levels and working status were taken into account. Besides, pregnancy weight gain was positively related to the level of education. Analysis of variance showed that infant birth weights were not similar in mothers who gain weight less, within and above recommended ranges. In all, 60% of the normal weight women and 56.7% of the underweight women had weight gain less than the lower cutoffs of IOM recommendation. Results of logistic regression analysis showed that low level of mother's education was the only predictor for low birth weight (LBW) (>12 y education OR=0.27(0.10–0.69)) and 5–12 y education OR=0.62 (0.2–0.94).
Conclusion:
These results showed that pregnancy weight gain lower recommended ranges are highly prevalent in Iranian women in public health centers in urban areas in Rasht. Moreover, mother's level of educational level may be considered as the most important determinant of birth weight and LBW in this population.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aaroson LS & Machee CL (1989): The relationship between weight gain and nutrition in pregnancy. Nurs. Res. 38, 223–227.
Abidoye RO & Soroh KW (1999): A study on the effect of urbanization on the nutritional status of primary school children in Lagos, Nigeria. Nutr. Health 13, 141–151.
Carmichael S, Abrams B & Selvin S (1997): The pattern of maternal weight gain in women with good pregnancy outcome. Am. J. Public Health 87, 1984–1988.
Carvalhaes MA & Benicio MH (2002): Mother's ability of childcare and children malnutrition. Rev. Saude Publica 36, 188–197.
Efteghari H & Azordegan F (1991): Relationship between birth weight and infant mortality. Med. J. I. R. Iran 5, 131–134.
Godfrey KM & Barker DJP (2000): Fetal nutrition and adult disease. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 71, S1344–S1352.
Hickey CA (2000): Sociocultural and behavioral influences on weight gain during pregnancy. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 71, 1364–1370.
Houshiar Rad A, Omidvar N, Mohmoodi M, Kolahdooz F & Amini M (1998): Dietary intake, anthropometry and birth outcome of rural pregnant women in two Iranian districs. Nut. Res. 18, 1469–1482.
Institute of Medicine (1990): Nutrition During Pregnancy, Weight Gain and Nutrient Supplements. Report of the Subcommittee on Nutritional Status and Weight Gain during Pregnancy, Subcommittee on Dietary Intake and Nutrient Supplementation during Pregnency, Committee on Nutritional Status during Pregnancy and Lactation, Food and Nutrition Board Washington, DC: National Academy Press. pp 1–233.
Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education (1992): The Health Situation of Mothers and Children in the Republic Islamic of Iran. Report.
Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education (1998): Anthropometry and Nutrition Indicator Survey (ANIS). Report.
Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education (2000): Population and Health in the Islamic Reublic of Iran—Iran Demographic and Health Survey. October.
Koblinsky MA (1995): Beyond maternal mortality-magnitude, interrelationship, and consequences of women's health, pregnancy-related complications and nutritional status on pregnancy outcomes. Int. J. Gynecol. Obstet. 48, S21–S32.
Kusin JA & Jansen AA (1986): Maternal nutrition and birth weight: selective review and some results of observations in Machakos. Kenya Ann. Trop. Paediatr. 6, 3–9.
Lamontagne JF, Engle LP & Zeitlin MF (1998): Maternal employment, childcare, and nutritional status of 12–18 month-old children in Manague, Nicarague. Soc. Sci. Med. 46, 403–414.
Lederman SA, Paxton A, Heymsfield SB, Wang J, Thoronton J & Pierson RN (1997): Body fat and water changes during pregnancy in women with different body weight and weight gain. Obstet. Gynecol. 90, 483–488.
Mora JO & Nestel PS (2000): Improving prenatal nutrition in developing countries: strategies, prospects and challenges. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 71, S1353–S1363.
Parker JD & Abrams B (1992): Prenatal weight gain advice: an examination of the recent prenatal weight gain recommendations of the Institute of Medicine. Obstet. Gynecol. 79, 664–669.
Pickett KE, Abrams B & Selvin S (2000): Maternal height, pregnancy weight gain and birth weight. Am. J. Human. Biol. 12, 682–687.
Schieve LA, Cogswell ME, Scanlon KS, Perry G, Ferre C, Blackmore B, Prince C, Yu SM & Rosenberg D (2000): Pregnancy body mass index and pregnancy weight gain: association with preterm delivery. The NMIHS Collaborative Study Group. Obstet. Gynecol. 96, 194–200.
Toyama N, Wakai S, Nakamura Y & Afifin A (2001): Mother's working status and nutritional status of children under the age of 5 in urban low-income community, Surabaya, Indonesia. J. Trop. Pediatr. 47, 179–181.
Varma TR (1984): Maternal weight and weight gain in pregnancy and obstetric outcome. Int. J. Gynaecol. Obstet. 22, 161–166.
Acknowledgements
We appreciate the mothers who participated in our study. We also wish to thank the health care personnel for collecting the data.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Guarantor: M Maddah.
Contributors: MM and MK provided the concept of work and are responsible for writing the paper. BMA, TRN, RV and AR helped in collecting data and data analysis.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Maddah, M., Karandish, M., Mohammadpour-Ahranjani, B. et al. Social factors and pregnancy weight gain in relation to infant birth weight: a study in public health centers in Rasht, Iran. Eur J Clin Nutr 59, 1208–1212 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602239
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602239
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity and the risk of macrosomia: a meta-analysis
Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics (2018)
-
Effect of maternal Helicobacter Pylori infection on birth weight in an urban community in Uganda
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2016)