ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DIETARY INTAKE, GESTATIONAL WEIGHT GAIN AND BIRTH WEIGHT AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN TAMALE METROPOLIS

Dietary intake and Optimal gestational weight gain is an important factor linked with positive outcome for both mothers and their infants. Women who consume inadequate diet and gain inadequate weight during pregnancy are at risk of bearing a baby with low birth weight whereas those who gain excessive weight are at increased risk of preeclampsia, having microsomal babies and gestational diabetes. In developing countries, data on dietary intake gestational weight gain and its determinants are scarce as it is difficult to collect the information throughout the pregnancy period and rather rely on retrospective data. The aim of the study was to assess the association between dietary intake, gestational weight gain and birth weight. The study was a health-facility-based quantitative retrospective cross-sectional study which involved 343 post-natal women. A structured questionnaire guide and checklist was used to collect both Primary and secondary data respectively. Data collected was entered using SPSS version 22 and analysed using STATA version 12. Majority (93.67%) of the respondents reside in urban areas. Greater proportion of the women were within the age range of 20-30 years. The mean age of the respondents was 29.045.35. Many respondents (90.51%) were married. 83.86%had some form of education. Most of the respondents (78.8%) were employed. The study showed 17.78%, 55.87% and 26.35% prevalence of inadequate, adequate and excessive gestational weight gain respectively and also 7.59% and 92.41% showed a prevalence of inadequate and adequate dietary intake respectively. Maternal Body mass index and weight gain during pregnancy were strong predictors of low birth weight among pregnant women.