Is obesity still increasing among pregnant women? Prepregnancy obesity trends in 20 states, 2003-2009

• Authors: S. C. Fisher, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; S. Y. Kim, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; A. J. Sharma, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Roger Rochat, Emory University; B. Morrow, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Journal Title: Preventive Medicine
• Volume: Volume 56, Number 6
• Publisher: Elsevier: 12 months | 2013-06-01, Pages 372-378
• Type of Work: Article | Post-print: After Peer Review
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2013.02.015
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Nutrition
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; Medicine, General & Internal; General & Internal Medicine; PRAMS; Pregnancy; Body mass index; Obesity; BODY-MASS INDEX; MATERNAL OBESITY; UNITED-STATES; RISK; HEALTH; PREVENTION; PREVALENCE; WEIGHT; RECOMMENDATIONS; DISPARITIES

Abstract

Objective: To estimate trends in prepregnancy obesity prevalence among women who delivered live births in the US during 2003-2009, by state, age, and race-ethnicity. Methods: We used Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data from 2003, 2006, and 2009 to measure prepregnancy obesity (body mass index [BMI]≥30kg/m2) trends in 20 states. Trend analysis included 90,774 records from 20 US states with data for all 3 study years. We used a chi-square test for trend to determine the significance of actual and standardized trends, standardized to the age and race-ethnicity distribution of the 2003 sample. Results: Prepregnancy obesity prevalence increased by an average of 0.5 percentage points per year, from 17.6% in 2003 to 20.5% in 2009 (P< 0.001). Obesity increased among women aged 20-24 (P< 0.001), 30-34 (P= 0.001) and 35 years or older (P= 0.003), and among non-Hispanic white (P< .001), non-Hispanic black (P= 0.02), Hispanic (P= 0.01), and other women (P= 0.03). Conclusion: Overall, prepregnancy obesity prevalence continues to increase and varies by race-ethnicity and maternal age. These findings highlight the need to address obesity as a key component of preconception care, particularly among high-risk groups.