Impact of maternal knowledge of recommended weight gain in pregnancy on gestational weight gain

Obesity is prevalent among reproductive-aged women and is associated with increased obstetric complications. Weight gain recommendations exist; however, knowledge of these recommendations is low, and few women gain appropriate weight during their pregnancies. Excessive gestational weight gain is common and is associated with adverse outcomes. Little is known about the relationship between knowledge of gestational weight gain recommendations and actual weight gain.

Our objectives were to assess knowledge of weight gain recommendations in pregnancy and to determine its association with actual weight gain among women who seek care at an urban, regional perinatal center. We hypothesize that low levels of knowledge will predict inappropriate weight gain in this population.

This is a cross-sectional study with linked chart review of 338 women who sought routine obstetric ultrasound scans at an urban, regional perinatal center that serves a largely low-income population of predominately black women. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and analysis of variance were performed.

This population has low rates of accurate knowledge of weight gain recommendations in pregnancy (27%) and low rates of appropriate gestational weight gain (30%). Inappropriate gestational weight gain was highest among women who were obese before pregnancy. Accurate knowledge of gestational weight gain recommendations was associated with appropriate weight gain in pregnancy (P = .02), as was prepregnancy weight category (P = .004) and correct identification of prepregnancy weight category (P = .005).

These findings support the need for improvements in educational efforts about weight gain in pregnancy for high-risk, low-income women in an urban setting, which may improve compliance with the recommendations.