Adolescent maternal weight gain and low birth weight: a multifactorial model

Abstract

Maternal weight gain is one of the most important independent predictors of infant birth weight and interacts with other maternal characteristics, including age, so that infant birth weight reaches a plateau at a higher level of maternal weight gain for young adolescents than for adults. It has been suggested that encouraging young adolescents to gain larger amounts of weight during pregnancy may be one way to decrease their risk of low-birth-weight deliveries. This recommendation may be premature because the mechanisms underlying the interaction between maternal age and weight gain are incompletely understood and may include such diverse factors as incomplete maternal growth, reproductive immaturity, diminished maternal body size, nutritional deficiencies, socioeconomic and behavioral factors, and maternal emotional stress. This review summarizes the literature on adolescent maternal weight gain and infant birth weight and discusses the importance of considering a multifactorial model in reformulating the weight-gain recommendations for pregnant adolescents.