Prevalence of Obesity and Weight Gain in Pregnant women

Abstract

Objective: to estimate the prevalence of obesity in pregnant women and assess their total weight gain during gestation, in Baja California, Mexico. Methods: cross-sectional study. 2 439 records of pre-natal care of the statistical database were analyzed. Those records were of pregnant patients assigned to family medicine units of the delegation of Baja California from the Mexican Social Security Institute (imss) during 2015. In each municipality, the following data were gathered: age, height, weight, weeks of gestation, nutritional status, and weight gain; subsequently, the prevalence of obesity, and weight gain were calculated and evaluated by the end of pregnancy. A descriptive statistics for the variables analysis using the statistical program spss v. 21 was performed. Results: of the 2 439 studied patients, based on the municipalities, 1556 were from Tijuana (64%), 587 from Mexicali (24%), 222 from Ensenada (9%), and 74 from Rosarito and Tecate (3%). Regarding nutritional status, 61 were in low weight (2.5%), 956 were in normal weight (39.25%), 810 were overweight (33.25%), and 612 had obesity (25%). Of the 612 patients with obesity, 385 presented obesity class 1 (63%), 164 obesity class 2 (27%), and 63 obesity class 3 (10%). In relation to the weight gained of the obese patients, 159 had less than recommended (26%), 251 recommended (41%), and 202 more than recommended (33%). Conclusions: the prevalence of obesity in pregnant women in the Baja California delegation is less than the prevalence of obesity in women of child-bearing age in Mexico; but it is high in comparison to the number of obesity in pregnant women in other countries in America and Europe. It was determined that more than half of the patients have inadequate weight changes polarized towards both ends.