Comparison of food intake and body mass index before pregnancy between women with spontaneous abortion and women with successful pregnancy

Abstract

Introduction:Spontaneous abortion or pregnancy loss is defined as the natural death of fetus before 20th weeks of pregnancy. There is a possibility that food intake is related to spontaneous abortion. Therefore, this study was performed with aim to compare body mass index (BMI) and food intake between women with spontaneous abortion and women with successful pregnancy. Methods: This case-control study was performed on 45 women with spontaneous abortion (cases) and 112 women with term and health neonates' birth (controls) who referred to the obstetrics and gynecology hospital of Farideh Behbahani of Behbahan city in 2016. The subjects were answered by Brief food frequency questionnaire about food intakes during recent pregnancy.Weight before pregnancy and height were extracted by referring to health records and BMI was calculated. Data were analyzed by SPSS statistical software (Version 20) and independent-t test or Mann-Whitney and Chi-square test. P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: Women with spontaneous abortion had significantly higher weight and BMI. This group of women had consumed less fruit (p<0.001), green vegetables (p<0.001), milk and cheese (p<0.001) compared to healthy women. Conclusion: High pre-pregnancy BMI and poor diet in terms of fruits, green vegetables and dairy products are associated with spontaneous abortion and probably increase its occurrence.

Keywords

• body mass index
• diet
• spontaneous abortion