TABLE 2.
Participant characteristics by Institute of Medicine category of gestational weight gain (GWG)
| Low GWG (n = 825) | Recommended GWG (n = 957) | High GWG (n = 574) | P value1 | |
| Age at delivery (wk) | 30.2 ± 4.32 | 29.7 ± 4.3 | 29.0 ± 4.2 | Low vs recommended: 0.04; high vs recommended: <0.001 |
| Male offspring (%) | 47.2 | 47.8 | 47.9 | 0.95 |
| Manual work social class (%) | 10.8 | 8.5 | 11.3 | 0.12 |
| Parity ≥ 3, including current (%) | 5.6 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 0.02 |
| Never smoked during pregnancy (%) | 86.9 | 87.9 | 85.2 | 0.32 |
| Gestational age (wk) | 39.6 | 39.8 | 39.9 | Low vs recommended: 0.005; high vs recommended: 0.81 |
| Cesarean delivery (%) | 7.5 | 9.9 | 11.2 | 0.05 |
| Never breastfed (%) | 16.7 | 12.3 | 17.9 | 0.004 |
| Not a smoker at 12 y after pregnancy (%) | 88.7 | 89.5 | 84.2 | 0.005 |
| Top fifth of the physical activity distribution (%) | 22.6 | 19.0 | 19.3 | 0.15 |
| Total caloric intake in pregnancy (kJ/wk)3 | 58,965.4 | 60,720.5 | 61,859.1 | Low vs recommended: <0.001; high vs recommended: 0.02 |
| Prepregnancy BMI (kg/m2) | 21.4 ± 3.3 | 21.8 ± 3.3 | 23.8 ± 4.4 | Low vs recommended: 0.021; high vs recommended: <0.00 |
| Pregnancy weight gain (kg) | 8.5 (−6.9–12.4)4 | 13.1 (5–18) | 17.7 (9.1–33.5) | Low vs recommended: P < 0.001; high vs recommended: P < 0.001 |
1
P values for continuous variables are from a Bonferonni post hoc test and for categorical variables are from a chi-square test.
2
Mean ± SD (all such values).
3
Results adjusted for underreporting, and P values obtained from regression analysis.
4
Mean; range in parentheses (all such values).