Our purpose of this study was to investigate determinants and patterns of associations with high maternal mortality in poor and multiethnic populations from the Xinjiang Uigur autonomous region of Western China. The researcher found that the maternal mortality ratio of Xinjiang was very high; almost half of the participants delivered at home without clean delivery, and nearly one-fifth of the participants had not received any medical treatment. Eighty-seven percent of maternal deaths were among ethnic minority groups. In multiethnic areas in Xinjiang, social-culture factors, lack of health resources, and low health services utilization were related to high maternal mortality.

Objective. To estimate the association between maternal pre-pregnant body mass index (BMI) and maternal weight change during pregnancy and offspring birthweight using the BMI classification developed by World Health Organization (WHO) and adopted by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) 3), mean maternal weight change in the first 30 weeks of gestation was 9.3kg (SD 4.4), mean birthweight was 3675g (SD 487) and mean age 30.3 years. Of the women, 65.2% had a normal pre-pregnancy weight, 2.9% were underweight, 22.3% overweight, and 9.5% obese (Classes 1-3). Linear regression analyses adjusted for potential confounders showed that offspring birthweight increased with increasing maternal pre-pregnant BMI, and with increasing maternal weight gain during pregnancy in all six categories of pre-pregnancy BMI. Women with the highest level of education had the highest offspring birthweight. Conclusion. Offspring birthweight increased with both increasing maternal pre-pregnant BMI and maternal weight gain during pregnancy in all six categories of maternal pre-pregnancy BMI.