How weight during pregnancy influences the association between pre-pregnancy body mass index and types of delivery and birth: a comparison of urban and rural areas

Background: Women in study areas suffered from the problems of caesarean delivery (CD), low birth weight (LBW), and macrosomia.

Objective: To investigate how gestational weight gain (GWG) influences the effect of the pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) on the risks of CD, LBW, and macrosomia in urban and rural areas in a city of Iran.

Methods: We used 767 and 612 eligible subjects from the public health care centers in urban and rural areas respectively.

Results: The risk of CD increased from 74% to 2.62-fold in urban and from 62% to 2.15-fold in rural areas, and the risk of macrosomia increased from 58% to 2.35-fold in urban and from 47% to 96% in rural areas, among obese women compared to normal weight women who gained above median GWG. The risk of LBW increased from 38% to 92% in urban and from 49% to 97% in rural areas among lean women compared to normal weight women who gained below median GWG.

Conclusion: These findings strongly support the need to reform adequate pre-pregnancy weight and GWG against the risks of CD and macrosomia among overweight and obese women, and against the risk of LBW among lean women in both areas.

Keywords: Body mass index, gestational weight gain, caesarean delivery, low birth weight, macrosomia

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