Burden of excessive gestational weight gain and postpartum weight retention among Indian women- A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Excessive weight gain during pregnancy and weight retention in the postpartum period may lead to obesity, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular events among women in later life, as well as adverse perinatal outcomes, and long-term offspring health outcomes during the current and subsequent pregnancies. However, most studies of gestational weight gain (GWG) and postpartum weight retention (PPWR) are in western and developed countries. Therefore, this paper aimed to determine the burden of gestational weight gain and postpartum weight retention among Indian women. Materials & methods: Three electronic database- Medline, Google Scholar, and Cochrane library were searched for studies up until March 31, 2022. Studies on GWG and PPWR from India were included in the review. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) checklist was used for reporting the current review. Online platform Rayyan was used to screen and select the studies. Data were extracted from the 13 selected articles and pooled estimates, proportion and mean of GWG & PPWR along with 95% CI were estimated. Results: Overall 271 articles were identified after the initial search and 13 articles were included (n = 6656) in the review. Nine studies reported proportion of women with excessive GWG, seven studies reported mean GWG and three studies described weight retention among postpartum mothers. The pooled proportion of Indian pregnant women with excessive GWG was found to be 16.48% (95% CI: 11.52, 21.43) and the pooled mean of GWG was 10.08 kg (95% CI: 7.81-12.34). The highest pooled proportion of women with excessive GWG was reported in the North region with 22.57% and the lowest in the East region with 9.15%. The highest pooled mean of GWG was reported in the East region with 12.90 kg and the lowest in the North region with 6.40 kg. Findings from three studies were systematically reviewed and summarized for postpartum weight retention among Indian women. Conclusion: Although majority of Indian women achieved GWG less than the recommendations, there is a need for larger population based surveys among Indian women to obtain adequate, appropriate and complete health related information about weight changes during and after pregnancy.