Weight Gain during Pregnancy in Women Attending a Health Center in Isfahan City, Iran

Background: body mass index (bmi) before pregnancy andweight gaining during pregnancy affect infant birth weight and areassociated with unfavorable pregnancy outcomes. the aim of thisstudy was to describe the weight gain pattern of iranian pregnantwomen according to the bmi status at the beginning of pregnancy.methods: this was a longitudinal cross sectional study. a totalof 500 pregnant women in 6th-10th weeks of pregnancy wereenrolled and followed up through delivery. body mass indexcategories based on first visit weight and total weight gain werecalculated. the multiple analysis of variance (manova) was usedto compare the mean values of gestational weight gain.results: at the first care, those with underweight, normal,overweight and obese accounted for 10.7%, 46%, 35.9% and 7.4%of all participating women, respectively. most of the subjects werein normal range of bmi (46%) at the beginning of the study. asbmi was more at the first visit, the recommended amount ofweight gain was less achievable (70% versus 27%). although theaverage weight gain in obese women was less than other groups(9±7.9), about 55% of them were over the recommended standardsof weight gain.conclusion: in conclusion, in spite of frequent visits duringpregnancy, only half of pregnant women had normal weight gainand most of them had normal bmi at the first visit. this studyhighlights the importance of considering women with abnormalpre pregnancy bmi and gestational weight gain at an increased riskand providing appropriate care for them to prevent future adverseoutcomes.