Assessing the nutritional status of pregnant women

Anthropometric nutritional assessment during pregnancy is an important tool for guiding health services in their search for a favourable obstetric outcome. Nutritional status is a condition that can be changed. This will only be possible with an appropriate anthropometric nutritional assessment method that reliably portrays the real nutritional status of pregnant women. The aim of this study was to assess maternal nutritional status using the Rosso Graph and the BMI curve according to gestational age proposed by Atalah. The data obtained was statistically analysed using SPSS version 17.0 using Pearson's test to assess correlations and the significance level adopted was 5%. In relation to the classification of the nutritional status of pregnant women using the Rosso and Atalah methods it was observed that the Atalah Curve was more reliable in terms of results. This study showed that nutritional assessment is of the utmost importance in order to intervene correctly and avoid risks during pregnancy.