Gestational weight gain among minority adolescents predicts term birth weight

Background In adolescents, there is limited evidence on the independent and additive effect of prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain on infant birth weight. Data also show that this effect may vary by race. We sought to examine the impact of maternal prepregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain on birth weight and risk of large for gestational age (LGA) in term newborns of minority adolescent mothers. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of 411 singleton live term infants born to mothers ≤ 18 years. Data were abstracted from electronic medical records. Results Gestational weight gain was related to infant birth weight ( ρ = 0.36, P