Management of Gestational Weight Gain by Family Physicians: Seeking Congruence With Guidelines

MANAGEMENT OF GESTATIONAL WEIGHT GAIN BY FAMILY PHYSICIANS: SEEKING CONGRUENCE WITH GUIDELINES

Background The Institute of Medicine (IOM) published guidelines in 2009 for optimal gestational weight gain (GWG) during pregnancy. These guidelines include trajectories for optimal GWG, based on a woman's pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), to be used throughout the duration of a pregnancy. Although there is a significant association between the total GWG recommended by these guidelines and maternal and perinatal outcomes, research has demonstrated that only approximately one-third of pregnant women have total GWG within the recommended amounts. Factors known to influence GWG include maternal age, parity, being in a committed relationship and smoking. In addition, recommendations by primary care providers have been shown to influence actual GWG. Women appreciate advice from their primary care providers, however, despite this, there is evidence that many patients report not being advised at all about GWG by their primary care providers.

Relevance Excess weight gain in pregnancy has been shown to be a modifiable risk factor for excess weight in childhood, thus contributing to the intergenerational cycle of obesity. There is an opportunity to interfere with this cycle during the peri-pregnancy period, as women's motivation to engage in behaviour change is elevated and contact with their primary care providers is frequent.

Research Question and Hypothesis What impact does training family physicians to regularly refer to the IOM trajectories and provide feedback about GWG ("training in the use of IOM charts") during routine prenatal visits, compared to usual care, have on congruence of total GWG with IOM guidelines? Null Hypothesis: there is no difference in the congruence of total GWG with IOM guidelines between women whose family physicians were assigned to training in the use of the IOM charts and those whose family physicians were assigned to usual care.

Objectives

The following are the objectives for this study:

1. To compare the congruence of total GWG with IOM guidelines between women whose family physicians were assigned to training in the use of IOM trajectories and those whose family physicians were assigned to usual care.
2. To explore the relationship between other independent variables (maternal age, parity, committed relationship and smoking) and congruence of total GWG with IOM guidelines, for women whose family physicians were assigned to training in the use of IOM trajectories and for those whose family physicians were assigned to usual care.

Study Overview

• Status: Withdrawn
• Conditions: Gestational Weight Gain
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Training in the use of IOM charts

• Study Type: Interventional
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Nova Scotia
    • Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
      • Halifax Regional Municipality

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 16 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• family physicians who provide prenatal care
• pregnant women with low risk pregnancy

Exclusion Criteria:

• pregnant women < 18 years old
• pregnant women with multiple gestation
• pregnant women with chronic disease
• pregnant women initially presenting in second trimester or later.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Training in the use of IOM charts; Training family physicians to regularly refer to the Institute of Medicine guideline trajectories and provide feedback about GWG ("training in the use of IOM charts") during routine prenatal visits.	Behavioral: Training in the use of IOM charts
No Intervention: Usual care; Family physicians providing usual prenatal care.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Congruence with gestational weight gain guidelines	The congruence of total gestational weight gain with Institute of Medicine guidelines based on pre-pregnancy body mass index.	up to 38 weeks after enrolment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Helena Piccinini
• Collaborators: Nova Scotia Health Authority
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Helena Piccinini-Vallis, MSc MD, Department of Family Medicine Dalhousie University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: January 1, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 1, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 1, 2013
• First Posted (Estimate): March 4, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 19, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 17, 2018
• Last Verified: July 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Primary care; Pregnancy; Gestational weight gain; Guidelines
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Body Weight Changes; Body Weight; Weight Gain; Gestational Weight Gain
• Other Study ID Numbers: P20PiccVall

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No