Influence of prepregnancy BMI and weight gain during pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes in women: a cohort study based in Yunnan, China

Low prepregnancy weight has been found to be associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as caesarean section, low birth weight and premature delivery. Our findings suggest that prepregnancy BMI influences outcome via dual-pathway effects: it directly influences birth weight and indirectly modulation preterm risk through gestational diabetes. Those findings emphasise the importance of ethnicity-specific GWG monitoring and targeted antenatal care strategies.