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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Maternal Weight and Weight Gain in Africans: Its Relationship to Birth Weight |
Author: | Lawoyin, Taiwo O. |
Year: | 1991 |
Periodical: | Journal of Tropical Pediatrics |
Volume: | 37 |
Issue: | 4 |
Period: | August |
Pages: | 166-171 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Nigeria Africa |
Subjects: | pregnant women child development nutrition Health, Nutrition, and Medicine Women and Their Children |
External link: | http://tropej.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/37/4/166 |
Abstract: | It is generally accepted that there is an association between maternal nutrition and maternal weight gain during pregnancy and that maternal weight gain during pregnancy is significantly related to the birth weight of the infant, and also that there is an association between maternal nutrition and birth weight of the infant. Measurement of maternal weight is easy to undertake and appropriate to the level of technology in many developing countries of Africa. This study was undertaken in order to gain insight into the relationship of maternal weight to birth weight and to find out if this knowledge can be of use to ensure optimum birth weights in babies. The study was carried out in the major hospitals of Ibadan City, West Nigeria. A prospective study of 600 pregnant women, 492 of whom eventually delivered normal singleton babies following uncomplicated pregnancies is described. Maternal weight measurements per gestational age were recorded from the 10th week till delivery in these randomly selected women who regularly attended antenatal clinics. The purpose of the paper is to describe the observed changes in maternal weight throughout normal term pregnancy; to see if any relationship exists between maternal weight and gestational age of women entering pregnancy with different weights; and to explain how the weight changes affected the birth weights of their babies. Ref., sum. |