Maternal prepregnancy weight status and pregnancy weight gain as major determinants for newborn weight and size

The impact of maternal anthropometric characteristics, above all prepregnancy weight status and pregnancy weight gain, on newborn size was tested using 10,240 single births in the University Hospital of Vienna, Austria. Highly significant relations between maternal prepregnancy weight status and newborn size were observed. With higher maternal prepregnancy body mass index, higher birthweight, length, head circumference, acromial circumference and fronto occipitalis diameter occurred. Furthermore the incidence of low weight newborns (< 2500 g) was significantly higher in underweight women than in normal weight, overweight and obese women. Although the pregnancy weight gain was significantly higher in underweight women than in normal weight, this higher pregnancy weight gain was not able to compensate for the negative impact of poor weight status before pregnancy. These results indicate that even in a highly developed country such as Austria, where starvation is a nearly unknown problem and the medical and social system are well developed, a poor maternal weight status is a risk factor for growth retarded and low weight births.