About 20 percent of women aged between 25 and 34 are overweight or obese, and the number rises to nearly 30 percent for women aged 35 to 39, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said, adding that pregnant women who are overweight have a higher risk of having babies significantly larger than average.
If a woman’s weight is below the advised level during pregnancy, the risk of the baby suffering malnutrition increases 53 percent and that of a preterm birth by 70 percent.
If the woman’s weight is above the level, it increases the risk of fetal macrosomia by 85 percent, research published in JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association showed.
An additional 5kg to 9kg of weight is ideal for women with a pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) of more than 30, the HPA said.
An additional 11.5kg to 16kg is recommended for women with a pre-pregnancy BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9, while an additional 12.5kg to 18kg is recommended for women with a pre-pregnancy BMI lower than 18.5, the HPA said
Losing weight is not recommended during pregnancy, it said.
Pregnant women should take advantage of their 10 free prenatal tests, as well as government-run care services, to better manage their health and weight, it added.
In related news, the HPA said that Taiwanese women are having their first child at an average age of 30.9 years, two years older than a decade ago.
The number of women giving birth aged 35 or over has increased 2.5 times compared with a decade ago, it said.
It said 35 is considered advanced maternal age and the risks of stillbirth, premature birth, miscarriage, infertility, hypertension and gestational diabetes increase significantly, the HPA said.
As a mother’s age increases, the likelihood that the child might be born with a low weight, have abnormal chromosomes or other congenital defects also increases, it said.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the risk of a woman giving birth to a child with Down syndrome increases with the mother’s age, the HPA said.
The risk of a woman aged 35 to 39 giving birth to a child with Down syndrome is increased by 4.3 times, the HPA said, while for a woman aged 40 or above the risk is increased 13.6 times.
The risks are the same for other chromosomal abnormalities, such as Patau syndrome or Edwards syndrome, it said, calling for women of advanced maternal age to undergo prenatal genetic diagnosis.
Women aged 34 and above, those who can prove they have given birth to a child with chromosomal abnormalities, those whose child is at risk of hereditary disease or those who have a condition that could cause the child to have a congenital defect are eligible to apply to the HPA for genetic diagnosis test subsidies, it said.
Pregnant women should undergo amniocentesis at a hospital and fill out an application form to be entitled to NT$5,000 in subsidies which would be deducted from hospital expenses not covered by the National Health Insurance program.
Women aged 34 years and above comprised 62.4 percent of all applicants of such subsidies in 2018, with 3 percent of fetuses diagnosed with having an abnormality, the HPA said.
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