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Semin Reprod Med 2016; 34(02): e14-e21
DOI: 10.1055/s-0036-1583531
Review Article
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Excess Gestational Weight Gain in Pregnancy and the Role of Lifestyle Intervention

Rebecca Goldstein
1   Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
2   Diabetes and Endocrinology Units, Monash Health, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
,
Helena Teede
1   Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
2   Diabetes and Endocrinology Units, Monash Health, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
,
Shakila Thangaratinam
3   Women's Health Research Unit, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
,
Jacqueline Boyle
1   Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
4   Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit, Monash Health, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
› Author Affiliations
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Publication History

Publication Date:
24 May 2016 (online)

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Abstract

With increasingly adverse lifestyles, young women in many countries have rapid weight gain and rising obesity. In keeping with this, most pregnant women exceed recommended gestational weight gain (GWG) and then retain weight postpartum. The consequences of excess GWG include maternal risks during pregnancy, neonatal risks and maternal obesity and chronic disease longer term, presenting a significant public health and economic burden worldwide. This article discusses the adverse maternal and infant risks with excess GWG apparent from observational studies, summarizes the existing guidelines for optimal GWG and highlights the need for further research to identify optimal GWG recommendations across the different ethnicities and weight ranges.

We also review the evidence for lifestyle interventions in pregnancy to prevent excess GWG and highlighting the work underway to integrate large scale meta-analyses of individual patient data from lifestyle intervention studies to inform clinical practice beyond current observational data. Finally, we address the need to implement lifestyle interventions into routine pregnancy care to improve short and long term maternal health outcomes.

Keywords

gestational weight gain (GWG) - outcomes - intervention - body mass index (BMI)