Gestational Weight Gain and Pregnancy Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis by Xiaohong Ye, aggregating results from 17 cohort studies published between 2009 and April 2025. The analysis includes data from 866,593 pregnant women to evaluate associations between abnormal gestational weight gain and adverse outcomes like cesarean section and preeclampsia. The document is shared under a CC-BY-4.0 license.

Use Cases

• Assessing the association between excessive gestational weight gain and risks of cesarean section or macrosomia based on reported odds ratios.
• Comparing the effects of inadequate gestational weight gain on preterm birth risk across different regions as described in the results.
• Evaluating the applicability of standard gestational weight gain guidelines in developing country contexts as highlighted in the conclusion.
• Synthesizing evidence on the relationship between weight gain and outcomes like preeclampsia or LGA/SGA for literature reviews.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on a substantial pooled sample of 866,593 pregnant women from 17 studies.
• Provides specific pooled odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals for multiple outcomes, such as an OR of 2.05 for preeclampsia with excessive GWG.
• Includes a systematic review methodology with quality assessment (NOS) and data extraction performed independently.

Limitations

• The primary data file is a 707.7 KB DOCX document, which is a tiny dataset containing summarized results rather than raw participant-level data.
• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, limiting detailed suitability assessment.
• Data freshness should be verified as the last update is listed as 2026-04-28, which is a future date relative to the study period.

Provenance

Source

Xiaohong Ye via figshare.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of published cohort studies, with data extraction and pooling performed in Stata.

Time Range

Studies published from 2009 to April 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-28 05:27:29; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Multinational, with noted regional and developmental differences, particularly involving developing countries.