Effects of nutritional management intervention on gestational weight gain and perinatal outcome

To evaluate whether nutritional management intervention can prevent excessive weight gain during pregnancy and improve perinatal outcomes.

This cross-sectional study included 276 pregnant women undergoing prenatal care between June 2010 and December 2011 at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the Second Affiliate Hospital of the ChongQing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing, China. Of them, 131 women received individualized nutritional management in addition to routine prenatal care (intervention group), and 145 women received only routine prenatal care (control group). The primary study outcome was gestational weight gain (GWG). Secondary outcomes included birth weight, Apgar score, and incidence of pregnancy complications.

Baseline demographic characteristics of the 2 groups were the same. The average GWG was higher in the control group (12.57+/-4.62 kg) compared with the intervention group (7.58+/-1.59 kg; p=0.000). The incidence rate of preeclampsia was 3.1% and gestational diabetes was 3.8% for the intervention group, compared with 11% for preeclampsia and 14.5% gestational diabetes for the control group (p<0.05). The incidence rates of premature rupture of membranes, preterm labor, birth weight, birth of a newborn, and major congenital anomalies did not significantly differ between the 2 groups.

Nutritional management intervention prevented excessive GWG and improved perinatal outcomes. These results support the hypothesis that nutritional management intervention can decrease the rate of complications experienced by expecting mothers.