Monitoring gestational weight gain: setting up a regional surveillance system in Italy

Background: In many countries, including Italy, there are few national data on pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG), despite these being important predictors of maternal and neonatal health outcomes. This dearth of information makes it difficult to develop and monitor intervention policies to reduce the burden of disease linked to inadequate BMI status and/or GWG in pregnant women. This study describes the setting up and initial implementation of a regional surveillance system on pre-pregnancy BMI and GWG.

Methods: Between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2018, anthropometric data were collected from all pregnant women accessing public health services in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region (Italy) for first ultrasound check (T1) and at delivery (T2). Anthropometric data collected at T1 (self-reported pre-pregnancy weight and measured weight and height) and T2 (measured weight and self-reported pre-pregnancy weight and height) were compared.

Results: The system was able to reach 43.8% of all the women who gave birth in the region, and provided complete data for 6400 women of the 7188 who accessed the services at T1. At the beginning of pregnancy 447 (7.0%) women were underweight, 4297 (67.1%) had normal weight, 1131 (17.7%) were overweight and 525 (8.2%) had obesity. At delivery, 2306 (36.0%) women were within the appropriate weight gain range, while for 2021 (31.6%) weight gain was insufficient and for 2073 (32.4%) excessive. Only minor differences were observed between measured and self-reported anthropometric data.

Conclusions: The surveillance system offers an overview of the weight status of women during pregnancy. About 1/3 of women entered pregnancy with unsatisfactory BMI and 2/3 did not achieve the recommended weight gain. This surveillance system can be an effective tool to guide public health interventions.