Educational Attainment and Gestational Weight Gain among U.S. Mothers

Abstract

Background Education is an important social determinant of many health outcomes, but the relationship between educational attainment and the amount of weight gained over the course of a woman's pregnancy (gestational weight gain (GWG)) has not been clearly established. Methods We used data from 1979-2010 for women in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort (n= 6344 pregnancies from 2769 women). We used generalized estimating equations to estimate the association between educational attainment and GWG adequacy (as defined by 2009 Institute of Medicine guidelines), controlling for diverse social factors from across the life course (e.g., income, wealth, educational aspirations and expectations) and considering effect measure modification by race/ethnicity and pre-pregnancy overweight status. Results In most cases, women with more education had increased odds of gaining a recommended amount of gestational weight, independent of educational aspirations and educational expectations and relatively robust to sensitivity analyses. This trend manifested itself in a few different ways. Those with less education had higher odds of inadequate GWG than those with more education. Among those who were not overweight pre-pregnancy, those with less education had higher odds of excessive GWG than college graduates. Among women who were white, those with less than a high school degree had higher odds of excessive GWG than those with more education. Conclusion The relationship between educational attainment and GWG is nuanced and nonlinear.

Sleep disruption and duration in late pregnancy is associated with excess gestational weight gain among overweight and obese women

“…One prior study reported an increased risk of excessive gestational weight gain among African American and Latina women, although the results were not significant after adjusting for relevant covariates. The contradictory findings related to race/ethnicity may at least partially be explained by socioeconomic factors, which are also associated with gestational weight gain and often confounded with race/ethnicity …”

Intimate Partner Violence and Gestational Weight Gain in a Population-Based Sample of Perinatal Women

“…Consistent with other research findings, our results suggest several maternal characteristics, including maternal age, race/ethnicity, education, and income were associated with an increased risk for both inadequate and excessive gestational weight gain (Cohen et al, 2016; Samura et al, 2016). Associations between sociodemographic factors and GWG are complex, and further studies are needed to explore the multifaceted relationships between these factors.…”

Factors associated with gestational weight gain: a cross-sectional survey

“…Despite the large number of publications regarding the association between socioeconomic status and GWG, the literature is inconsistent [ 32 , 33 , 39 – 41 , 68 , 69 ]. Women with low income have an increased risk for both excessive and inadequate GWG [ 69 ].…”

“…In most studies, a higher risk of gaining weight outside of the recommendations was found in women with a lower level of education [ 32 , 40 , 71 , 72 ]. Cohen et al suggested that higher education plays a role in healthier GWG for some, but not all, groups of pregnant women [ 33 ]. In most cases, higher education was associated with a lower chance of inadequate GWG.…”