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Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate weight gain during pregnancy and birth weight in rural regions of Tabriz, a province in the northwest of Iran. Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using routinely collected data of pregnant mothers from rural health centers. Eight health centers were randomly selected in rural areas of Tabriz. Totally, 874 women aged 24.86±5.08 years with singleton term that regularly attended health centers for prenatal care and delivered between 2002 and 2007 entered the study. The data on pre-pregnancy weight, height, total weight gain during pregnancy, mother’s age, parity, newborn's birth weight, mother’s education and working status were extracted from the health records. The women were categorized based on their pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) as underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese. Pregnancy weight gain was compared with new (2009) and old (1990) recommendations of Institute of Medicine (IOM). Results: 86.1% of underweight and 77.7% of normal weight pregnant women gained weight during their pregnancy below the lower limits of recommended ranges. While weight gain in none of the underweight pregnant women was more than the new IOM recommendations, 1.1% of normal weight, 17.8% of overweight and 36.4% of obese women gained weight more than the upper limits of the new IOM recommendations. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that according to IOM guidelines, most of Iranian rural pregnant women gain weight during pregnancy less than minimum recommendations.

Keywords: Rural Health Services, Pregnancy Outcome, Infant, Low Birth Weight, Obesity, Weight Gain

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