Conclusion
Our results showed that under the proper pre-pregnant BMI criteria in
South China, the proportion of underweight women was nearly equal to
that of overweight/obese women. Underweight women had significant higher
TC level than those of normal-weight women and overweight/obese women.
Moreover, underweight women with high TC level had significantly higher
occurrence of LGA, and lower occurrence of SGA, while there were no
significant associations between serum TC and LGA or SGA in
normal-weight women and overweight/obese women. The higher TC level in
underweight women could be an adaptive response to satisfy the maternal
and increasing fetal demand, and we presume cholesterol may be a more
significant material for maintaining pregnancy and fetal development.
Moreover, considering the association between serum lipid levels of
underweight women and neonate birth weight, we recommend pre-pregnant
underweight women to control their serum lipid level properly for
preventing the occurrence of LGA and other adverse maternal and fetal
outcomes.