Optimal weight gain during twin pregnancy in Japanese women with favorable perinatal outcomes

Abstract

Objective: We examined the optimal weight gain in the healthy Japanese women with favorable perinatal outcomes of (dichorionic) twin pregnancy.

Methods: We calculated the average weight gain in the women whose height was 150–164 cm with favorable perinatal outcomes of dichorionic twin pregnancy set for this study. The women were categorized to underweight, normal, overweight and obese based on the pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) categories according to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the World Health Organization (WHO) body mass index (BMI) cutoffs.

Results: The average GWG in the normal-weight women with the favorable perinatal outcomes was 13.9 ± 3.6 kg. It was significantly different from that in the underweight, overweight and obese women according to the both 2 BMI cutoffs by Student’s t-test (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: There are optimal ranges of weight gain during twin pregnancy based on the BMI classification.

Keywords:

• Gestational weight gain
• twin pregnancy
• Japanese women
• favorable perinatal outcomes

Disclosure statement

The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author is responsible for the content and writing of the paper.