Dietary practice and its effect on gestational weight gain in Butajira Ethiopia, 2019: a prospective cohort study
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Date
2021-06
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background: Gestational weight gain is the amount of weight gained between conception and
just before the birth of the infant where trimester specific weight gain is the weight gained in
between each trimester. Both excess and inadequate weight gain have short and long-term
consequences for both the mother and the fetus. Dietary practice is one of the maternal factors
that is belived to affect gestational weight gain. Studies in Ethiopia indicate different dietary
practice and mother’s reason for their action but its further effect on maternal and fetal outcome
is not well known.
Objective: To assess the effect of dietary practice during pregnancy on gestational weight gain
in Butajira.
Method: A prospective cohort study was conducted on 214 women who are living in Butajira
district from Feb – Sep 2019. All pregnant women in their second trimester and with a single tone
pregnancy were recruited from the existing cohort (BUNMAP cohort) in the area. Information on
socio demographic and dietary practice was collected by face-to-face interview using
questionnaire. Dietary intake and physical activity of pregnant women was assessed using
multiple pass 24 hr recall method and global physical activity questionnaire respectively. Patient
health questionnaire was used to assess depression. Anthropometric measurement of weight was
measured by trained data collectors with monthly follow up. Discriptive statistical tests and
multinomial logistic regression model was used to see the association between dietary practice
and Gestational Weight Gain. P-value less than 0.05 was considered to declare the association.
Result: - 214 participants were involved in the study and 40 % had inadequate weight gain and
51.5 % of women were found to practice decreased amount of food intake during their
pregnancy. Women with decreased amount of food intake had 2.16 times more risk to have
inadequate weight gain [ARR 2.16: 95% CI: 1.05 – 4.45] compared to those who have no
practice in taking decreased amount of food. Risk of inadequate weight gain also increases with
high physical activity [ARR 4.7: 95% CI: 1.85 – 11.8] and with inadequate energy intake [ARR
3.8: 95% CI: 1.49 – 9.8].
Conclusion and Recommendation: - This study found that decreased intake is practiced by
51.5 % of women and more prevalently, women in the area have decreased energy intake where
also quite high inadequate weight gain was identified. Therefore, interventions focusing on
behavior change regarding pregnant women feeding practice and strategies to enhance energy
intake of pregnant women aiming in optimum weight gain during pregnancy are needed.
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Keywords
Weight gain,dietary practice