Acculturation and gestational weight gain in a predominantly puerto rican population

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth

Research Article

Alison Tovar¹  Aviva Must²  Odilia I Bermudez²  Raymond R Hyatt²  Lisa Chasan-Taber³ 

[1] Department of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Rhode Island, 112 Ranger Hall, University of Rhode Island, 02881, Kingston, RI, USA;Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University, 136 Harrison Avenue, 02111, Boston, MA, USA;Division of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, School of Public Health & Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, 405 Arnold House, 715 North Pleasant Street, 01003-9304, Amherst, MA, USA;

关键词: Gestational weight gain;    Acculturation;    Pregnancy;    Hispanic;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2393-12-133

 received in 2012-03-27, accepted in 2012-11-12,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIdentifying risk factors that affect excess weight gain during pregnancy is critical, especially among women who are at a higher risk for obesity. The goal of this study was to determine if acculturation, a possible risk factor, was associated with gestational weight gain in a predominantly Puerto Rican population.MethodsWe utilized data from Proyecto Buena Salud, a prospective cohort study of Hispanic women in Western Massachusetts, United States. Height, weight and gestational age were abstracted from medical records among participants with full-term pregnancies (n=952). Gestational weight gain was calculated as the difference between delivery and prepregnancy weight. Acculturation (measured via a psychological acculturation scale, generation in the US, place of birth and spoken language preference) was assessed in early pregnancy.ResultsAdjusting for age, parity, perceived stress, gestational age, and prepregnancy weight, women who had at least one parent born in Puerto Rico/Dominican Republic (PR/DR) and both grandparents born in PR/DR had a significantly higher mean total gestational weight gain (0.9 kg for at least one parent born in PR/DR and 2.2kg for grandparents born in PR/DR) and rate of weight gain (0.03 kg/wk for at least one parent born in PR/DR and 0.06 kg/wk for grandparents born in PR/DR) vs. women who were of PR/DR born. Similarly, women born in the US had significantly higher mean total gestational weight gain (1.0 kg) and rate of weight gain (0.03 kg/wk) vs. women who were PR/ DR born. Spoken language preference and psychological acculturation were not significantly associated with total or rate of pregnancy weight gain.ConclusionWe found that psychological acculturation was not associated with gestational weight gain while place of birth and higher generation in the US were significantly associated with higher gestational weight gain. We interpret these findings to suggest the potential importance of the US “obesogenic” environment in influencing unhealthy pregnancy weight gains over specific aspects of psychological acculturation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Tovar et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012