THE PREVALENCE OF UNDERWEIGHT, OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY IN A ROMANIAN POPULATION IN THE FIRST TRIMESTER OF PREGNANCY - CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Underweight, overweight and obesity are important global public health issues and risk factors for adverse perinatal outcomes. To assess the distribution of the body mass index (BMI) in the Romanian obstetric population in the first trimester of pregnancy and its correlation with pregnancy outcomes. We also report the distribution of blood pressure (BP) parameters and their correlation with BMI. This retrospective study includes 9,064 women attending routine first trimester visit and ultrasound scan at 12.8(±0.6) gestational weeks. Characteristics, parity, method of conception, blood pressure (from 3,650 women), maternal weight and height, BMI and foetal ultrasound were recorded. Pregnancy outcomes were available for 1,607 deliveries. The Pearson correlation coefficient was assessed for each BMI group blood pressure parameters, gestational age and birth weight. ANOVA analysis and post hoc tests were used to determine group differences. Linear regression was applied to estimate the contribution of BMI and gestational age to birth weight variance. In our population, 66.37% pregnant women had a normal BMI, 19.29% were overweight, and 7.56% were obese. There was a weak-to-medium positive correlation between BMI and blood pressure parameters, for all weight categories. The correlation between maternal BMI and birth weight was positive for normal and overweight. Our findings highlight the need for more effective health strategies targeting reduction of weight-related problems in women of childbearing age.