Association of Body Mass Index for Pre-pregnant Mothers and Weight Gain during Pregnancy with the Outcome of Baby's Birth Weight

Abstract

Pre-pregnancy mother's body mass index plays a role in increasing or decreasing maternal weight. Maternal body mass index is a prominent indicator for the nutritional status of pregnant women who can be at risk of increasing the occurrence of births with low birth weight babies. This study aims to analyze the relationship between pre-pregnancy body mass index and the occurrence of low birth weight babies at Abdul Moeloek General Hospital Bandar Lampung, Indonesia. This study uses an observational analytic research design with a cross sectional approach. The population in this study were all post-partum mothers who gave birth at the Abdul Moeloek Regional Hospital in Bandar Lampung and involved a sample of 79 respondents who were taken using the consecutive sampling technique. Sampling was carried out based on inclusion and exclusion criteria that met the research criteria until the desired number of samples was met. Analysis of the research data is the chi-square test and logistic regression test. The results showed that the two independent variables, namely the pre-pregnant mother's body mass index and weight gain during pregnancy, had a significant relationship to the baby's birth weight. The significance of body mass index is p-value=0.004 and the significance of weight gain during pregnancy is p-value=0.000. Thus the body mass index of pre-pregnant women and weight gain during pregnancy can affect low birth weight babies at Abdul Moeloek Hospital Bandar Lampung.