Pre-pregnancy BMI associated with increased risk of delivering low-birthweight infant, suggests study

The primary outcome was low birthweight (<2500 g), and secondary outcome was preterm childbirth. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to compare outcomes in the three groups by BMI. The underweight BMI group was considered as the reference group. A subgroup analysis was performed by maternal age. Results: In total, 16 363 mothers (underweight, 3418 [21%], normal weight, 11 493 [70%], and overweight, 1452 [8.9%]) were included. The risk of primary outcome (low birthweight) was significantly lower in the normal weight group than in the underweight group (4.6% vs. 5.7%; adjusted odds ratio 0.78 [95% confidence interval: 0.65–0.96]). In the subgroup analyses, no significant differences were noted in the incidences of low birthweight and preterm childbirth between maternal age groups. Pre-pregnancy BMI was associated with an increased risk of delivering low-birthweight infant. Awareness about the importance of women's pre-pregnancy health and appropriate BMI may reduce the incidence of low birthweight.

Reference:

Fukui K, Suto M, Kaneko K, Isayama T, Ito Y, Takehara K. Pre-pregnancy body mass index and low birthweight: Secondary data analysis using health insurance claims data in Japan. J Obstet Gynaecol Res. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1111/jog.15973