In a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday, Nov. 6, it was stated that nearly half or 47 percent of pregnant women in the US gained weight above the recommended level. Meanwhile, only 21 percent of women gained less than prescribed.
Gestational weight gain (GWG) refers to the weight a woman gains during pregnancy that entails essential associations between the health of the mother and the baby. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) prescribes appropriate GWG for women, advocating excellent health by balancing hazards linked with lack or excess GWG. The recommendations made by IOM are specific to a woman's body mass index (BMI) before pregnancy.
To determine state-specific prevalence, the CDC study was conducted by analyzing 2013 birth information of U.S. women who gave birth to a full-term, single babies across 43 jurisdictions in the country. The said data utilized the 2003 amended birth certificate, which obtains information about pre-pregnancy weight, maternal height and delivery weight.
The authors also studied 2012 data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) to come up with approximations of prevalence for five states with available information that had not yet followed the 2003 birth certificate.
The findings of the study showed that only about one-third of pregnant women from 46 states, DC and New York had suitable GWG, 20 percent had insufficient GWG and approximately half of the study population had excessive GWG.
A notable finding is that excessive GWG had more increased prevalence than correct or insufficient GWG in each state examined. In 17 states, excessive GWG was present in more or less 50 percent of the study population.
The results of the study show that efficient actions during pregnancy, along with regular prenatal check up and care, are vital to achieve appropriate GWG. To help make this possible women should set dietary objectives, engage in physical activity, conduct regular weight self-checks, and communicate constantly with a health care provider.
"To improve maternal and child health, intensified, multifaceted strategies are important for increasing the proportion of women who achieve appropriate GWG," the report concluded.
Photo: Daniel Oines | Flickr
