Rate and amount of weight gain during adolescent pregnancy: associations with maternal weight-for-height and birth weight

Abstract

This study presents information on the course and rates of weight gain and the associations among weight gain, prepregnancy weight-for-height, and infant birth weight, based on a total sample of 1419 uncomplicated term deliveries to adolescents. The distribution of cumulative weight gain indicates that for adolescents not only is the median gain at term (14.2-15.5 kg) significantly in excess of that reported for adults, but also weight-gain velocity is greater from the beginning of pregnancy. Although the contributions of prepregnancy weight-for-height and weight gain to birth weight may be independent, they are not necessarily additive. Birth weight does not appear improved for the infants of overweight adolescents except when weight gain is low (less than 11.1-12.3 kg at term), and, for Puerto Rican and black adolescents, birth weight is not further improved at any maternal prepregnancy body mass index (weight-for-height) with excessive weight gains (greater than 17.9-19.3 kg at term).

Gestational Weight Gain in Adolescent Compared with Adult Pregnancies: An Age-Specific Body Mass Index Approach

“…The study showed that when adult BMI categories were used, a larger number gained below and within the recommendations than when the CDC BMI percentiles were used, in which case a higher percentage gained above the recommendations. 34 Other studies have also showed that the use of adult BMI can categorize adolescents into a lighter BMI group 9,35 resulting in higher weight gain recommendations than if adolescent-specific BMI is used.…”

Excessive gestational weight gain and chronic disease risk

“…Teenage childbearing is associated with increased gestational gain (Garn and Petzold, 1983;Hediger et al, 1990;Rees et al, 1992). Young women, such as those in this sample, who begin their childbearing early, and thus minority women who have proportionately more teenage childbearing, may be a t particularly increased risk for overweight and obesity.…”

“…The results from a larger, descriptive study on the distribution of weight gain during teenage pregnancy, the effects of parity, ethnicity, and pregravid BMI on that distribution, and the contribution of pregravid weight and weight gain to pregnancy outcome have been published previously Hediger et al, 1990). The sample for this study comprised 118 young women who were monitored over two consecutive pregnancies.…”

Influência das características antropométricas maternas no resultado da gravidez: em mulheres de origem cabo-verdiana e portuguesa

“…Enquanto que para muitos autores o ganho de peso materno é um importante indicador do peso ao nascimento (Alberti-Fidanza et a!., 1998;Hediger et al" 1990;Jiménes e Bacallao, 1995;Langhoff-Ross et a i, 1987;School et a i, 1989;Stevens-Simon e McAnarney, 1988), outros há que não encontraram nesse aumento ponderai um factor de grande influência no peso do recém-nascido (Dawes e Grudzinskas, 1991;Ricalde et al, 1998). Já em relação ao peso antes da gravidez há um unanimismo quase generalizado quanto à sua influência no peso ao nasci mento entre os diferentes investigadores.…”