Gestational weight gain trajectories in primary care

Objective: To identify gestational weight gain trajectories, stratified by prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), of women with singleton pregnancies who received prenatal care in a primary care setting, and to compare these trajectories with the 2009 Institute of Medicine gestational weight gain recommendations. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Halifax, NS. Participants: Women who received prenatal care at the Dalhousie Family Medicine clinics in Halifax from 2009 to 2013. Main outcome measures: For each prenatal visit, gestational age and weight measurements were obtained. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the gestational weight gain trajectories. The upper limit of the guidelinerecommended weekly gestational weight gain was compared with the 95% CI of the observed mean weekly gestational weight gain for each prepregnancy BMI category. Results: A total of 280 women were included in the analyses. There was a significant interaction between prepregnancy BMI category and gestational weight gain over time (P \u3c .001), with gestational weight gain being significantly lower among women with prepregnancy BMI of 30.0 kg/m2 or greater compared with those with BMI of 18.5 to less than 25.0 kg/m2 and 25.0 to less than 30.0 kg/m2. When comparing women\u27s weight gain with the recommendations, women with prepregnancy BMI of 25.0 to less than 30.0 kg/m2 had the most guideline discordance, deviating from the weight gain recommendations at 20 weeks\u27 gestation. Conclusion: These results are relevant and of benefit to women and clinicians wishing to address excess gestational weight gain, and to researchers and policy makers developing interventions aimed at curbing gestational weight gain in primary care. Although our results showed women with prepregnancy BMI of 25.0 to less than 30.0 kg/m2 gained the most excess, guidelinediscordant weight, interventions should target all women planning or experiencing a pregnancy