The association of maternal pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index and gestational weight gain with pregnancy and neonatal outcomes

BackgroundOverweight and obesity epidemic is still expanding, and it is affecting women of childbearing age. Multiple studies have shown unmatched results concerning the effect of body mass index (BMI) besides gestational weight gain (GWG) on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. This study aims to determine the effect of each of the two anthropometric indicators: pre-gestational BMI and gestational weight gain on the course of pregnancy, and neonatal outcomes.MethodsA retrospective study was conducted at Notre Dame de Secours University Hospital (CHU-NDS) Jbeil-Lebanon. The data was collected from the hospital archive. Out of 804 deliveries during 2020, 583 women were included after randomly choosing their files and eliminating those with exclusion criteria or incomplete data.ResultsUnderweight/healthy BMI mothers had a higher chance of having low GWG (45.5%), vaginal delivery (51.3%), and a baby of appropriate size (78.6%) or small size for gestational age (10.4%). Obese women had a higher risk of excessive GWG (49.3%), delivery via C-section. (69.3%), and large for gestational age babies (26.7%). Mothers who had low GWG were at a higher risk of having babies of appropriate size (80.1%) or small size for gestational age (13.1%). Mothers who had high GWG had a higher risk of having baby boys (58.9%), large for their gestational age (26.1%), with hypoglycemia at birth (20.6%).ConclusionBoth extremes of BMI and GWG are linked to adverse neonatal outcomes. This highlights the importance of weight monitoring even during pregnancy to prevent its negative impact on neonates.