Study reminds pregnant women to keep to a healthy weight
Updated 01:40 PM Oct 14, 2010
A first-of-its-kind study in Singapore has found that inadequate or excessive weight gain during pregnancy and pre-pregnancy obesity may increase the risk of gestational diabetes, hypertension and birth complications, such as an unplanned Caesarean section.
The study was done by the KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH) and the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. It involved about 1,600 women who had their first antenatal visit in their first trimester at KKH from January to April 2008.
While more data need to be gathered, one of the principal investigators of the study, Dr Tan Thiam Chye, said that, at this stage, the findings serve as a good reminder to pregnant women to manage their maternal weight gain in a holistic way through nutrition and exercise.
According to the study, about 42 per cent of the women were also found to be overweight or obese, at their first antenatal visit in their first trimester.