Results
Overweight and obesity predominated among pregnant
women ≥ 35 years, whereas normal weight was most frequently
observed among pregnant adolescents (≤19 years
old) (p < 0.001). Prepregnancy diabetes was more frequent
in obese (15.7 %) and overweight (13.6 %) women
than in women with normal weight (6.2 %). The prevalence
of of family history of obesity was greater in obese
and overweight women, although not statistically significant
(p = 0.051) (Table 1).
Compared to women with normal weight, overweight
and obese women showed higher mean baseline weight
and final weight, prepregnancy BMI and gestational BMI
(at 37–38 weeks of pregnancy) (p < 0.001). Nonetheless,
weight gain (WG) was lowest in the obese group
(Table 2).
WG 16 kg) was more frequently
seen in women with normal weight (p < 0.001). By the
end of pregnancy, most normal weight women were either
overweight (35.4 %) or obese (3.1 %) (p < 0.001).
Most overweight and obese women engaged in physical