Different methods for assessing gestational weight gain and its association with birth weight

Objective: To analyze association of different methods of gestational weight gain assessment with live births small for gestational age (SGA) and large for gestational age (LGA). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with adult women, normal prepregnancy BMI, single pregnancy and gestational age at delivery >= 28 weeks, from the "Birth in Brazil" study, between 2011 and 2012. Results: Among the 11,000 women participating in the study, prevalence of excessive weight gain was 33.1% according to the Brandao et al. and Institute of Medicine (IOM) methods, and 37.9% according to the Intergrowth method. The chance of being born SGA in the case of insufficient weight gain was OR=1.52 (95%CI 1.06;2.19), OR=1.52 (95%CI 1.05;2.20) and OR=1.56 (95%CI 1.06;2.30) for the Brandao et al., IOM and Intergrowth methods, respectively. Likelihood of excessive weight gain using the same methods was OR=1.53 (95%CI 1.28;1.82), OR=1.57 (95%CI 1.31;1.87) and OR=1.65 (95%CI 1.40;1.96), for LGA respectively. Conclusion: compared to the IOM recommendations, the Intergrowth and Brandao et al. methods show themselves to be alternatives for identifying SGA and LGA.