Risk factors for excessive gestational weight gain among low income women receiving WIC services.
This project is a collaboration between Simmons University and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and includes nine years of longitudinal data representing a large proportion of low income women giving birth in Massachusetts. It aims to leverage prior research to ascertain what factors affect excessive gestational weight gain (EGWG) during pregnancy. This is very important because EGWG increases risk of post-partum weight retention and later obesity. Moreover, Massachusetts is the only state to collect data on household food security status, which has been shown to increase risk of obesity among women. To our knowledge, no researchers have examined how food insecurity affects gestational weight gain; thus this would be a contribution to the field of obesity research. The results of this study will not only be presented at a national conference and published but will be used by the MA WIC program to inform prenatal counseling.
Contributing faculty: Elizabeth Metallinos-Katsaras, PhD, RD