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.

Manoochehr Babanezhad1,2
1. Department of Statistics, Faculty of Sciences, Golestan University, Gorgan, Golestan, Iran
2. Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Abstract
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.