Predictors of Gestational Weight Gain among White and Latina Women and Associations with Birth Weight

Table 1

Sample characteristics of overall study sample and by ethnicity ().

Sample characteristics	⁢All women ()		⁢White non-Latina; ( = 271)		⁢Latina; ( = 300)		value
		%		%		%
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Demographic factors
Age category, (%)
Age 15–19	127	22.24	39	14.39	88	29.33	<0.001
Age 20–24	155	27.15	64	23.62	91	30.33
Age 25–29	133	23.29	67	24.72	66	22.00
Age 30–34	100	17.51	62	22.88	38	12.67
Age ≥ 35	56	9.81	39	14.39	17	5.67
Mean (SD)	25.35	6.40	27.09	6.52	23.79	5.88	<0.001
Marital status, (%)
Divorced	8	1.41	6	2.21	2	0.67	<0.001
Married	199	35.04	129	47.60	70	23.57
Single	361	63.56	136	50.18	225	75.76
Employment at onset of pregnancy (%)
Employed	266	46.83	153	56.67	113	37.92	<0.001
Not employed	302	53.17	117	43.33	185	62.08
Parity, (%)
0	233	42.75	114	44.53	119	41.18	0.003
1	160	29.36	86	33.59	74	25.61
2	89	16.33	39	15.23	50	17.30
3 or more	63	11.56	17	6.64	46	15.92
Behavioral factors
Alcohol use, (%)
No	449	78.91	193	71.22	256	85.91	<0.001
Yes, past	112	19.68	74	27.31	38	12.75
Yes, this pregnancy	8	1.41	4	1.48	4	1.34
Tobacco use, (%)
No	392	68.89	172	63.47	220	73.83	0.016
Yes, past	67	11.78	34	12.55	33	11.07
Yes, this pregnancy	110	19.33	65	23.99	45	15.10
Prepregnancy weight categories (body mass index range), (%)
Underweight (BMI ≤ 18.4)	33	5.78	16	5.90	17	5.67
Normal weight (BMI 18.5–24.9)	260	45.53	133	49.08	127	42.33	0.315
Overweight (BMI 25.0–29.9)	138	24.17	64	23.62	74	24.67
Obese (BMI ≥ 30.0)	140	24.52	58	21.40	82	27.33
Prenatal care factors
Week gestation at the 1st prenatal visit	10.57	3.07	10.53	2.72	10.61	3.36	0.760
Gestational age at the last visit	35.76	5.39	35.68	5.84	35.83	4.96	0.740
Number of prenatal visits	9.78	3.24	9.84	3.36	9.72	3.14	0.656
Gestational age at delivery	38.97	5.87	38.87	6.91	39.06	4.76	0.705
Prenatal care site, (%)
Private	272	47.64	137	50.55	135	45.00	0.185
Hospital clinic	299	52.36	134	49.45	165	55.00
Insurance type, (%)
Commercial/private	201	35.39	139	51.29	62	20.88	<0.001
No insurance/unknown	4	0.70	4	1.48	0	0.00
Public	363	63.91	128	47.23	235	79.12
GWG status with respect to IOM guidelines
GWG status at the last prenatal visit, (%)
Within guidelines	152	26.62	66	24.35	86	28.67	0.016
Below guidelines	90	15.76	33	12.18	57	19.00
Above guidelines	329	57.62	172	63.47	157	52.33
GWG status in the 1st trimester, (%)
Within guidelines	148	26.43	69	26.24	79	26.60	0.537
Above guidelines	256	45.71	126	47.91	130	43.77
Below guidelines	156	27.86	68	25.86	88	29.63
Psychiatric factors
Psychiatric history, (%)
None	445	78.21	203	75.19	242	80.94	0.003
Anxiety	15	2.64	11	4.07	4	1.34
Depression	86	15.11	38	14.07	48	16.05
Other	23	4.04	18	6.67	5	1.67
Psychiatric medications, (%)
No	539	94.40	251	92.62	288	96.00	0.080
Yes	32	5.60	20	7.38	12	4.00
Pregnancy outcomes
Length of pregnancy, (%)
Term delivery	504	88.73	244	90.71	260	86.96	0.158
Preterm delivery	64	11.27	25	9.29	39	13.04
Birth weight parameters
SGA	56	10.04	20	7.60	36	12.20	0.012
Normal GA	454	81.36	212	80.61	242	82.03
LGA	48	8.60	31	11.79	17	5.76
LBW (<2500 gr)	53	9.45	23	8.68	30	10.14	0.390
Normal BW	456	81.28	213	80.38	243	82.09
HBW (>4000 gr)	52	9.27	29	10.94	23	7.77

values are from Chi-square and -tests for ethnic differences.