Estimated global overweight and obesity burden in pregnant women based on panel data model

To estimate the global and country-level burden of overweight and obesity among pregnant women from 2005 to 2014.

Publicly accessible country-level data were collected from the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the Food and Agricultural Organization. We estimated the number of overweight and obese pregnant women among 184 countries and determined the time-related trend from 2005 to 2014. Based on panel data model, we determined the effects of food energy supply, urbanization, gross national income and female employment on the number of overweight and obese pregnant women.

We estimated that 38.9 million overweight and obese pregnant women and 14.6 million obese pregnant women existed globally in 2014. In upper middle income countries and lower middle income countries, there were sharp increases in the number of overweight and obese pregnant women. In 2014, the percentage of female with overweight and obesity in India was 21.7%, and India had the largest number of overweight and obese pregnant women (4.3 million), which accounted for 11.1% in the world. In the United States of America, a third of women were obese, and the number of obese pregnant women was 1.1 million. In high income countries, caloric supply and urbanization were positively associated with the number of overweight and obese pregnant women. The percentage of employment in agriculture was inversely associated with the number of overweight and obese pregnant women, but only in upper middle income countries and lower middle income countries.

The number of overweight and obese pregnant women has increased in high income and middle income countries. Environmental changes could lead to increased caloric supply and decreased energy expenditure among women. National and local governments should work together to create a healthy food environment.