Nutritional Status of Pregnant Women Visiting Government Hospital, Chandigarh

Background: Pregnancy is a phenomenon associated with dynamic changes in physical, mental and biochemical status of body and demands increased nutritional intake for developing foetus. (Shankar et al 2017). Adequate nutritional intake during pregnancy has been recognized as an important factor for healthy pregnancy and desired birth outcomes. It was found that deficiency of nutrients during gestation may cause the foetus to receive suboptimal micro and macro nutrients, causing inadequate intrauterine growth and development, inherited malformations, preterm deliveries, and pregnancy complications (Mirsanjari et al 2016). Objective: To study the nutritional status of pregnant women Methods: A hospital based study was conducted amongst 420 randomly selected pregnant women of I, II and III trimester visiting government hospitals, Chandigarh. Nutritional status was assessed by a pre-tested general assessment questionnaire consisting of questions related to nutritional knowledge, dietary pattern and 24 hour dietary recall method was used to calculate the daily intake of nutrients. The nutrient intakes were compared with Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of pregnancy. Results: Mean daily intake of energy was 1732.74 kcal and the percentage of energy from carbohydrates, proteins and fat were 71.23, 65.95 and 190.3 respectively. Although mean daily intake of protein; 54.21g, calcium; 814.54mg, iron; 16.04mg, and folate 386.51mg were below the RDA. Conclusion: The study concluded that poor nutritional knowledge and low dietary intakes of nutrients were nutritional problems of the study sample. Therefore current strategies such as iron and folic acid supplementation along with special care such as providing nutritional knowledge, special diets, regular medical and health checkups should be directed towards pregnant women to improve maternal nutritional status.