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Anthropometric characteristics of pregnant women in Cali, Colombia and relationship to birth weight

Anthropometric dimensions were collected from 46 pregnant women living in Cali, Colombia to gain a better understanding of how poor, urban women deal with the demands of pregnancy and to identify relationships between maternal characteristics and infant birth weight. Height, weight, skinfold thicknesses (subscapular, suprailiac, thigh, calf, and triceps), and circumferences (hip, thigh, calf, and mid‐upper arm) were measured on all women. Infant measurements were weight and length. The women were measured in the second and third trimesters, and a sub‐sample (n = 16) was measured twice in the third trimester. Mean birth weight was 3,137.6 ± 488.5 g (n = 44), and mean length was 49.8 ± 3.0 cm. All but three of the infants were full‐term, and the incidence of low birth weight (LBW) was 9%. The 46 women showed a significant increase in weight (P < 0.001); subscapular, suprailiac, and mid‐thigh skinfold thicknesses (P ≤ 0.01) and in hip, thigh, and calf circumferences (P ≤ 0.01) between trimesters 2 and 3. Women who gave birth to both normal birth weight (NBW) and LBW infants showed significant increases in weight (P < 0.001 and P = 0.02, respectively), but only women who had NBW infants showed significant increases in the suprailiac skinfold and hip circumference (P < 0.001). In the third trimester, attained weight, skinfold thicknesses, and circumferences tended to be greater in women who had NBW infants. In general, this group of women gained less weight and had a greater incidence of LBW infants compared with women in developed countries, but changes in skinfold thicknesses over the course of pregnancy were similar compared with other studies. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 14:29–38, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.