OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the nutritional status and prevalence to anemia during pregnancy, and to correlate these factors with the weight at birth. METHODS: A transversal study was carried out with pregnant women who underwent prenatal care at the only public health service in the municipality of Viçosa, MG, Brazil, from December 2002 to May 2003. A questionnaire was applied to obtain information on the mothers, and their hemoglobin levels were dosed using Hemocue, also registering the mothers' height and weight. Information on the newborns was obtained from the Birth Registries Information System. RESULTS: A total of 168 low-income, low-schooling level pregnant women were evaluated, 41.3% showing inadequate pre-gestational nutritional status, 25.7% being underweight and 17.4% overweight or obese. The majority of the pregnant women presented inadequate weight gain during pregnancy. The prevalence of total iron deficiency anemia was 21.4%, increasing with gestational age. The frequencies of low birth weight and insufficient birth weight were 8.9% and 28.6%, respectively. The anthropometrical variables (pre-gestational weight, height, pre-gestational Body Mass Index and total weight gain) presented a statistically significant association with weight at birth. CONCLUSION: The mother's anthropometrical variables correlated with the weight at birth. No correlation was found between the nutritional iron status of the pregnant women and weight at birth.
iron-deficiency anemia; nutritional state; pregnant; birth weight
