Tracking the Distribution of Body Mass Index among Iron-Deficient Pregnant Women in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64149/J.Carcinog.24.7s.408-413Keywords:
Obesity, Body Mass Index, Iron Deficiency, BMI Calculation, Maternal BMI, PregnancyAbstract
Background: One of the most common metabolic diseases in the world, obesity is increasingly acknowledged as a serious public health issue. It is characterized by an excessive or aberrant buildup of body fat, which raises the risk of several health issues, such as increased rates of morbidity and mortality.
Methods: Ethical Committee approval was granted for this research in accordance with local and international guidelines for research ethics. The study included a cohort of 1,818 pregnant women who were enrolled with obstetricians or gynecologists at Emirates Hospital in Dubai, UAE. Among them, 375 iron-deficient pregnant women were selected based on specific inclusion criteria during the initial one year period, from September 2022 to September 2023, across different trimesters. Statistics: Statistical software packages, Microsoft 365 (Excel) and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 (Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) were utilized for data recording and subsequent statistical evaluation.
Results: Out of 375 iron deficient pregnant women, the majority showed higher body weight and Body Mass Index (BMI), indicating a tendency towards overweight and obesity within the study population. Most participants (61%) weighed between 55–74.9 kg, while 32.8% had a weight of ≥ 75 kg. Regarding BMI distribution, 39.73% of women had a normal BMI, whereas a substantial proportion were overweight (36%), obese (17.6%), or severely obese (5.33%), with only 1.33% underweight. The Participant ages spanned from 21 to 50 years, with a median value of 32 years, indicating that most were in their early to mid-thirties. The mean BMI was 26.57 ± 4.86 kg/m²
Conclusion: A substantial proportion of iron deficient pregnant women in Dubai exhibited higher body size (32.8% weighed ≥75 kg; 58.93% had a BMI ≥25 kg/m²; median BMI = 26.1 kg/m²), indicating an overweight-predominant profile within the iron-deficient cohort.
