Early Psychological Factors Associated with Excessive Pregnancy Weight Gain: A pilot study

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of conducting a prospective cohort study during early pregnancy (<24 weeks gestation) examining the psychological factors associated with excessive pregnancy weight gain.

Study Design: Women who had at least 1 prenatal care visit, had a live singleton gestation and were able to read English were eligible to enroll in the study. Women completed the self-administered survey at their prenatal clinics in Hamilton and Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Final pregnancy weight was obtained from women’s clinical charts.

Results: All approached clinics agreed to participate in the study (100% clinic agreement). Five hundred thirty women completed the enrolment survey, which was a 90.0% uptake rate. An average of 6 women enrolled each week at less than 24 weeks gestation. Less than 10% of data were missing for all survey questions and outcome data (final pregnancy weight) was available for all but one participant (97.3%). Final pregnancy weights were obtained a median of 1.0 days (interquartile 0.0-3.5 days) prior to delivery. No psychological factors were significantly associated with the odds of gaining above the 2009 IOM/Health Canada guidelines in the exploratory univariate analysis.

Conclusion: All feasibility outcomes demonstrated that conducting a full-scale study in Southwestern Ontario would be feasible. Conducting a full-scale study may identify associations between psychological factors and excessive pregnancy weight gain.