Nutritional assessment of pregnant women and their newborn in Cali, 2008

Objective Evaluating pregnant women's nutritional status before conception and their development during pre-natal control based on body mass index (BMI), weight gain and the prevalence of anaemia. Methodology A sample of medical records from June 2007 to June 2008 regarding low-risk delivery pregnant women was subjected to cross-sectional study. The presence of anaemia, pre-pregnancy nutritional status and weight gain were evaluated. The newborns' birth weight and height were assessed. The Chi square test was used for determining statistical significance. Results The pregnant women's average size was 1.58 meters (m); average prepregnancy BMI was 22.6. At the beginning of pregnancy 21.7 % were underweight, 55.2 % had normal BMI and 22.9 % had excessive BMI. The findings indicated a statistically significant association between nutritional status at the beginning and end of pregnancy. The prevalence of anaemia increased from 8.3 % to 22.7 %, regardless of BMI. Low weight mothers' children had lower birth weight on average. Discussion Although all the pregnant women studied had had an appropriate number of prenatal consultations, the nutritional status of a large percentage of them had not changed by the end of their pregnancies, even though having been classified as having low weight or being overweight. Pre-pregnancy weight was a good indicator of pregnant women's final nutritional status, thereby demonstrating the importance of promoting a healthy lifestyle to control women's weight before and after pregnancy.