A study of correlation between pre-pregnancy weight, gestational weight gain, erythropoiesis-related micronutrient levels in term pregnant women and the birth weight of the baby

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Adequate Nutrients intake is very crucial for the health of pregnant women and the fetus. Inadequate intake will cause maternal anemia, increase the likelihood for the Antepartum and postpartum maternal complications, fetal growth restriction resulting in low birth weight (LBW) babies. Micronutrients which are involved in erythropoiesis may affect the birth weight of the newborn. The objective was to study the correlation between the pre-pregnancy weight, gestational weight gain, erythropoiesis-related micronutrient levels in apparently normal term pregnant women and birth weight of the baby. Materials and Methods: An Institutional ethical clearance was obtained. A total of 168 term pregnant women were selected for the present study. They were apparently normal term pregnant women who were willing to participate and who gave consent were included. Maximum of 86.9% of study subjects belonged to the age group of 21-30 years. The present hospital based cross sectional study was conducted in the department of OBG of tertiary care centres of North Karnataka between December 2019 to February 2020. Sample size was estimated to be 158. Results: In this study, we found that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between the maternal weight in first trimester, maternal weight at term, gestational weight gain, maternal serum ferritin, Serum total Iron binding capacity, Serum Vitamin B12, and Serum folic acid. The association was found between the type of anemia and birth weight of the baby with Odds ratio (95% CI): 2.01(0.71-5.64), p=0.08, though it is not statistically significant. Conclusion: Hence there is an association between pre-pregnancy weight, gestational weight gain and erythropoiesis-related micronutrients and birth weight of the baby. Hence it is very important to provide nutrition education to pregnant women along with iron and folic acid supplementation, other micronutrients which affect the pregnancy outcome.