Early pregnancy body mass index, gestational weight gain and perinatal outcome in an obstetric population in Lagos, Nigeria.

Introduction: the burden of overweight and obesity is rapidly increasing worldwide with significant health and social consequences. We determined the prevalence of overweight and obesity, pattern of gestational weight gain (GWG) and the associations of these with perinatal outcome among pregnant women in Lagos, Nigeria.

Methods: this was a retrospective review of case records of all deliveries in Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) over a period of two years. Case records of women with singleton pregnancies who registered for antenatal care at or below 20 weeks gestation were retrieved and reviewed to extract information on demography, anthropometrics, composites of pregnancy and perinatal outcomes. World Health Organization classification of BMI and the United States Institute of Medicine categorization of GWG were used to stratify subjects.

Results: out of 4,512 deliveries, 365 (8.1%) met our criteria. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in early pregnancy was 34.6% and 25.6% respectively while 2.9% were underweight. Thirty-seven (11.1%) pregnant women gained more than the recommended weight while 77.8% of underweight pregnant women gained less than the recommended weight. Following multiple logistic regression analysis, obesity in early pregnancy was significantly related to hypertensive pregnancy disorder (AOR 2.2; 95% CI, 1.08-4.32, p = 0.030), gestational diabetes mellitus (AOR 14.4; 95% CI, 4.85-42.6, p = < 0.001), caesarean section (AOR 2.7; 95% CI, 1.51-4.87, p = 0.001) and infections (AOR 4.9; 95% CI, 1.93-12.62, p = 0.001) while excessive GWG was significantly associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (AOR 4.8; 95% CI, 1.63-14.12, p = 0.004).

Conclusion: prevalence of early pregnancy overweight, obesity and excessive GWG were high among pregnant women in Nigeria and were associated with significant adverse consequences.