The vanishing normal weight: U.S. pregnancy trends by race and ethnicity, 2016–2024

Between 2016 and 2024, the U.S. obstetric population experienced broad metabolic deterioration characterized by rising obesity and erosion of normal weight as the normative baseline at pregnancy entry. Ethnicity-specific BMI thresholds reveal Asian mothers as a rapidly emerging high-risk population, underscoring the need for system-level interventions and recalibrated preconception metabolic strategies.