One size does not fit all: Examining ethnicity in gestational weight gain guidelines.

Pregnancy-related metrics vary by race/ethnicity, yet most gestational weight gain (GWG) guidelines are ethnicity-blind. We estimated small-for-gestational age (SGA) risk in a Japanese population, examining GWG adequacy categorized by Institute of Medicine (IOM) and Japanese guidelines in male (N = 192) and female (N = 191) full-term singleton infants. For predicting SGA, IOM guidelines had high sensitivity (≥ 0.75), but low specificity (≤ 0.25); Japanese guidelines had high specificity (≥ 0.80) but low sensitivity (≤ 0.50). GWG guidelines' implicit notions of Caucasian–Americans as optimal may lead to 'One Size Fits All' recommendations that can obscure important biocultural factors contributing to maternal child health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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