ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2007
How should gestational weight gain be assessed? A comparison of existing methods and a novel method, area under the weight gain curve.
Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 66 citations in OpenAlex.
- Maternal obesity in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2016Pooled it
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- Predictors of inadequate and excessive gestational weight gain in women: a retrospective longitudinal observational study.BMJ open · 2025Observational
- Methods for modeling gestational weight gain: empirical application using electronic health record data from a safety net population.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
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- Associations of Neighborhood Opportunity and Social Vulnerability With Trajectories of Childhood Body Mass Index and Obesity Among US Children.JAMA network open · 2022Article
- Maternal Obesity as a Risk Factor for Caesarean Delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Associations of midchildhood to early adolescence central adiposity gain with cardiometabolic health in early adolescence.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2021Article
- Consumption of ultra-processed foods in the third gestational trimester and increased weight gain: a Brazilian cohort study.Public health nutrition · 2021Article
- Effect of Correcting the Postnatal Age of Preterm-Born Children on Measures of Associations Between Infant Length-for-Age z Scores and Mid-Childhood Outcomes.American journal of epidemiology · 2021Article
- Gestational weight gain in sub-Saharan Africa: Estimation based on pseudo-cohort design.PloS one · 2021Article
- Timing and Amount of Gestational Weight Gain in Association with Adverse Birth Outcomes.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2019Observational
- Association of Weight for Length vs Body Mass Index During the First 2 Years of Life With Cardiometabolic Risk in Early Adolescence.JAMA network open · 2018Article
- Good Practices for Observational Studies of Maternal Weight and Weight Gain in Pregnancy.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2018Review
- Beverage Intake During Pregnancy and Childhood Adiposity.Pediatrics · 2017Article
- Higher Maternal Protein Intake during Pregnancy Is Associated with Lower Cord Blood Concentrations of Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF)-II, IGF Binding Protein 3, and Insulin, but Not IGF-I, in a Cohort of Women with High Protein Intake.The Journal of nutrition · 2017Article
- Article
- First and second trimester gestational weight gains are most strongly associated with cord blood levels of hormones at delivery important for glycemic control and somatic growth.Metabolism: clinical and experimental · 2017Article
- Classifying Gestational Weight Gain Trajectories Using the SITAR Growth Model.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2017Article
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6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundGestational weight gain is important to assess for epidemiological and public health purposes: it is correlated with infant growth and may be related to maternal outcomes such as reproductive health and chronic disease risk. Methods commonly used to assess weight gain incorporate assumptions that are usually not borne out, such as a linear weight gain, or do not account for differential length of gestation.
methodsWe introduce a novel method to assess gestational weight gain, the area under the weight gain curve. This is easily interpretable as the additional pound-days carried due to pregnancy and avoids many flaws in alternative assessments. We compare the performance of the simple difference, weekly gain, Institute of Medicine categories and the area under the weight gain curve in predicting birthweight and maternal weight retention at 6, 12, 24 and 36 months postpartum. The analytic sample comprises 2016 participants in Project Viva, an observational prospective cohort study of pregnant women in Massachusetts.
resultsFor birthweight outcomes, none of the weight gain measures is a meaningfully superior predictor. For 6-month postpartum weight retention the simple difference is superior, while for 12-, 24- and 36-month weight retention the area under the weight gain curve is superior.
conclusionsThese findings are plausible biologically: the same amount of weight gained early vs later in the pregnancy may reflect increased maternal fat stores. The timing of weight gain is reflected best in the area under the weight gain curve. Different methods of measuring gestational weight gain may be appropriate depending on the context.
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