Weight gain during pregnancy in adolescents: evaluation of a non-nutritional intervention.

The goal of the present work is to report the impact of psychological support, given during pregnancy to a group of adolescents, on maternal weight gain and their infants' birth weight. A total of 54 clinically healthy pregnant women of middle educational level were studied in Mexico City, beginning on the 20th week of pregnancy throughout the end of it. Before pregnancy there were no significant intergroup differences in height, age at menarche or expected weight for height; the groups were adolescents without psychological support (group I), adolescents with support (group II), and adults (group III). The median weight gains were 8.2, 11.0 and 12.2 kg for groups I, II and III respectively. Our results suggest that in favorable socioeconomic conditions, psychological support can be a non-nutritional intervention which can promote an adequate weight gain during pregnancy in adolescents, probably by diminishing their anxiety level.