ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PREGNANCY WEIGHT-GAIN AND CHORIOAMNIONITIS

Chorioamnionitis refers to infection of the amniotic fluid by such age nts as Streptococcus sp., E. coli and Ureaplasma sp. It has not only b een linked to the risk of premature rupture of the membranes and prete rm delivery, but also to increased morbidity and mortality among neona tes born to mothers with such infections. The possible association bet ween maternal gestational weight gain and chorioamnionitis was examine d in data using a case sample of 62 and control sample of 168 Israeli women. Univariate analysis demonstrated a significant increase in the incidence of chorioamnionitis among mothers delivering before 33 weeks gestation who displayed inadequate gestational weight gain according to the IOM standards, Comparison of logistic regression analyses betwe en mothers who developed chorioamnionitis at different stages of their pregnancies, controlling for the effects of maternal anthropometric, sociodemographic, and obstetric factors, showed that inadequate weight gain significantly increased the risk of chorioamnionitis among those delivering very prematurely. The differences in significant risk fact ors suggest the possibility that pre-and full-term chorioamnionitis ma y not have the same etiologies. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.