[Correlation between dietary patterns of pregnant women and weight changes in early pregnancy in Shenzhen from 2018 to 2021].

Abstract

Objective: To understand the dietary pattern characteristics of pregnant women in early pregnancy and analyze the association between these dietary patterns and weight changes in early pregnancy.

Methods: Using the birth cohort of the China Birth Cohort Study(CBCS), we analyzed the early pregnancy information and food frequency questionnaire data of 3, 540 subjects who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria at the Shenzhen sub-center from July 2018 to January 2021. Dietary patterns were extracted using factor analysis. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the associations between these dietary patterns and weight changes in early pregnancy. Finally, gestational age was divided into three groups using the tertile method, and stratified analyses were conducted for each group.

Results: The low weight change group comprised 914 individuals(25.82%), the moderate weight change group included 1442 individuals(40.73%), and the high weight change group consisted of 1184 individuals(33.45%). The result of the univariate analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in the distribution of gestational age, age, ethnicity, educational level, occupation, pre-pregnancy body mass index(BMI), presence of early pregnancy reactions, and average annual household income over the past two years among the subjects with low, moderate, and high weight changes in early pregnancy. Factor analysis identified four major dietary patterns: the high-protein dietary pattern, the vegetarian dietary pattern, the legume-nut dietary pattern, and the snack-dairy dietary pattern, with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 42.45%. The result of the Logistic regression analysis showed that, after adjusting for gestational age, age, ethnicity, educational level, occupation, pre-pregnancy BMI, early pregnancy reactions(nausea, vomiting), and average annual household income over the past two years, the high-protein dietary pattern in T3 group(OR=0.635, 95%CI 0.427-0.946) and the legume-nut dietary pattern in T2 group(OR=0.675, 95%CI 0.467-0.975) were both significantly negatively correlated with the low weight change group. After stratification by gestational age, the high-protein dietary pattern in T3 group(OR=0.472, 95%CI 0.211-0.862) in the population at 11-13 weeks of gestation and the legume-nut dietary pattern in T2 group(OR=0.542, 95%CI 0.304-0.965) in the population at 9-11 weeks of gestation remained significantly negatively correlated with the low weight change group.

Conclusion: The high-protein dietary pattern and the legume-nut dietary pattern have a certain positive impact on the rational weight gain of pregnant women in early pregnancy.