Trends in Maternal Weight Disparities: Statewide Differences in Rural and Urban Minnesota Residents From 2012 to 2019

Introduction

Despite research showing substantial weight disparities along the rural–urban continuum, little work has attempted to identify differences in prepregnancy weight status or gestational weight gain (GWG) outcomes between rural and urban birthing people. As such, the goals of this research were to 1) document the prevalence of prepregnancy overweight and obesity and excessive GWG in rural and urban birthing people and 2) examine changes in rural and urban prepregnancy overweight or obesity and excessive GWG over time.

Methods

Birth certificate data provided sociodemographic variables, prepregnancy body mass index, GWG, and rurality status on 465,709 respondents who gave birth in Minnesota from 2012 to 2019. A series of regression models estimated risk differences in 1) prepregnancy weight status and 2) excessive GWG between rural and urban respondents over time, controlling for relevant covariates.

Results

Rural individuals had a 4.9 percentage-point (95% confidence interval, 4.5–5.3) higher risk of having prepregnancy overweight or obesity compared with urban individuals, and a 2.6 percentage-point (95% confidence interval, 1.9–3.3) higher risk of gaining excessive gestational weight. The disparities in prepregnancy overweight or obesity and excessive gestational weight between rural and urban individuals widened over time.

Conclusions

These findings contribute to accumulating evidence documenting notable health disparities between rural and urban individuals during the perinatal period and support the need to develop prevention and treatment efforts focused on improving the weight-related health of individuals living in rural communities.