Dietary And Nutritional Status Of Pregnant Women And Its Effects On Newborn Birthweight In Hubei Province

Objectives:To investegate the dietary and nutritional status of pregnant women in Hubei province, and determine the effects of dietary and nutritional factors on newborn bitrthweight, in order to help make effective intervention strategies and measures, prompting pregnant woman to take balanced diet and rational nutrition, maintaining and improving health during pregnancy, birthing normal weight newborn.Subjects and Methods:Four hospitals in Jiangan District Wuhan City and four countryside hospitals in Macheng City were chosen as the representative sites. From September 2003 to February 2004, Women in the third trimester of pregnancy who attended predelivery check in these sites were randomly selected as subjects of a follow-up study, totally 302. Anthropometric measurements of newborns and pregnant women were taken, blood samples of pregnant women were obtained for nutritional analyses, and questionnaires made by ourselves were finished. All data were coded uniformly, the database was established by Foxpro6.0, and t test, analysis of variance,χ2 test, Fisher test, linear relation analysis and multiple regression analysis were conducted by SAS8.1 statistical software package. Results:The diet was comprised primarily of plant sources, intakes of all food were abundance. Milk and milk products intake of rural pregnant women was far less than city pregnant women, while cereal products and vegetables intakes more than them, and intakes of fruits, soybeans, meat and fish of city women were more than rural women. The intakes of energy and all nutrients met the Chinese RNI or AI, in average, but in part of the subject, still obviously not enough were intakes of energy and nutrients. In rural areas, the intakes of riboflavin and calcium were only 59.21% and 51.23% of RNI or AI, separatedly, and the proportion of pregnant women were about 80% whose intakes of riboflavin and calcium were lower, in addition, thiamin, iron and zinc over 50%. The intake of calcium, iron and zinc mainly derived from plant sources. Nutrient supplements were used by 79.80% of the subjects during pregnancy, and the calcium supplement was used by most of the pregnant women. The deficiency rate of serum zinc was the highest in nutritional biochemistry indexs, especially in rural areas. The prevalence of anemia of pregnant women was 35.50%, and there was significant difference between city and rural areas (p<0.01), the influencing factors on which were vitamin C intake, the place where pregnant women lived in, mean income and age of the pregnant woman.The mean birthweitht of newborns was 3392g, and there was not significant difference between male and female infants, and between city and rural areas (p>0.05). Gestational age, pregnancy weight gain, body weight before pregnancy, pregnant woman height, her husband height were associated with birthweight of newborns, and serum vitamin A concentration of pregnant women was negatively correlation with birthweight. The proportion of low birth weight and macrosomia was 3.97% and 13.25%, respectively. There was no significant difference on the incidence of LBW between city and rural pregnant women (p=0.6297), while the proportion of macrosomia in countryside was higher than that in city (p=0.0269). Pregnancy less weight gain and serum calcium and vitamin A lower concentration increased the risk in pregnant women birthing LBW. Effects on macrosomia were pregnancy more weight gain and higher BMI before pregnancy. Conclusions:In Hubei province, the diet pattern of pregnant women was still not rational, and nutrient intakes of many pregnant women were not enough. Far lower was the pregnant women intakes of animal foods, especially milk and milk products, in countryside, intakes of calcium and riboflavin were obviously not enough. Dietary and nutritional status of pregnant women affected newborn birthweight. Keeping good BMI before pregnancy, pregnancy proper weight gain, increasing serum calcium concentration, and maintaining normal serum vitamin A concentration attributed to delivery of normal weight newborn.