Revisiting Gestational Weight Gain cut-offs for pregnancy monitoring and outcomes

Weight management in pregnancy is a growing concern as excessive and insufficient gestational weight gain (GWG) is linked to adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Despite this, there are no consensual GWG recommendations used in routine clinical management of pregnancies. The existing IOM guidelines do not provide detailed guidance that are GA specific for routine monitoring during pregnancy. Pregnancy assessments of risks and classification into inadequate, normal, and excessive should be assessed at each GA as opposed to only trimester specific. In addition, IOM guidelines were based primarily on data from the United States and may not be suitable for diverse populations worldwide. In this talk, we will revisit GWG cut-offs for pregnancy monitoring and discuss approaches towards development of GWG standards and ongoing work being undertaken by WHO to re-define GWG standards.