Associations Between Rurality, pre-pregnancy Health Status, and Macrosomia in American Indian/Alaska Native Populations

Matern Child Health J. 2022 Dec;26(12):2454-2465. doi: 10.1007/s10995-022-03536-w. Epub 2022 Nov 8.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the relationships between pre-pregnancy diabetes mellitus (DM), gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and county-level social determinants of health, with infant macrosomia within a sample of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) women receiving Indian Health Service (IHS) care.

Methods: The sample included women-infant dyads representing 1,136 singleton births from fiscal year 2011 (10/1/2019-9/30/2011). Data stemmed from the IHS Improving Health Care Delivery Data Project. Multivariate generalized linear mixed models were fitted to assess the association of macrosomia with pre-pregnancy health status and social determinants of health.

Results: Nearly half of the women in the sample were under age 25 years (48.6%), and most had Medicaid health insurance coverage (76.7%). Of those with a pre-pregnancy BMI measure, 66.2% were overweight or obese. Although few women had pre-pregnancy DM (4.0%), GDM was present in 12.8% of women. Most women had a normal term delivery (85.4%). Overweight, obesity, pre-pregnancy DM, and county-level rurality were all significantly associated with higher odds of infant macrosomia.

Keywords: American Indians/Alaska Natives; Diabetes; Infant weight; Maternal child health; Obesity.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Alaska Natives*
  • American Indian or Alaska Native
  • Birth Weight
  • Body Mass Index
  • Diabetes, Gestational* / epidemiology
  • Female
  • Fetal Macrosomia / epidemiology
  • Health Status
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Obesity
  • Overweight
  • Pregnancy
  • Weight Gain