Revisiting gestational weight gain cut-offs for pregnancy monitoring and outcomes

This in person seminar is open to members of the University.  It can also be accessed on Teams.

Speaker: Eric Ohuma, Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health

Eric Ohuma is a Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, with a DPhil (PhD) in Medical Statistics from the University of Oxford (UK), and an MSc in Medical Statistics from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). Before joining LSHTM, he was a Child Growth & Development Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Global Child Health (SickKids) - Canada. Previous to this, he was at the University of Oxford as the Lead Statistician of the INTERGROWTH-21st Project, an international multi-centre project that resulted in some key publications i.e., the international standards for pregnancy dating, standards for monitoring fetal size during pregnancy, neonatal size at birth, postnatal standards for monitoring preterms, and gestational weight gain standards among others. The international growth standards are currently used in several hospitals/countries and have contributed to changes in clinical practise. Professor Ohuma started his research career at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/Welcome Trust Research Centre as a Statistics intern and then was employed as a Medical Statistician.

Abstract:
Weight management in pregnancy is a growing concern as excessive and insufficient gestational weight gain (GWG) is linked to adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Despite this, there are no consensual GWG recommendations used in routine clinical management of pregnancies. The existing IOM guidelines do not provide detailed guidance that are GA specific for routine monitoring during pregnancy. Pregnancy assessments of risks and classification into inadequate, normal, and excessive should be assessed at each GA as opposed to only trimester specific. In addition, IOM guidelines were based primarily on data from the United States and may not be suitable for diverse populations worldwide. In this talk, we will revisit GWG cut-offs for pregnancy monitoring and discuss approaches towards development of GWG standards and ongoing work being undertaken by WHO to re-define GWG standards.

There will be tea/coffee and cakes available for seminar attendees in Atrium 1, 30 min prior to the seminar.