The CRoatian Islands Birth Cohort Study (CRIBS) is the first birth cohort study ever conducted in Croatia and Southeastern Europe, designed to prospectively follow a sample of 500 pregnant women and their children up to two years of age. The aim is to assess the prevalence of risk factors for the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and other NCDs in Croatia. This study presents data of 296 mother-child dyads from CRIBS. Maternal age ranged from 19 to 41 years, with the mean age of 29.7 years. On average, women in our study gained 15.3 kg of weight during pregnancy. Their mean pre-pregnancy BMI was 22.8 kg/m2 (15.7 kg/m2 - 45.2 kg/m2). According to their pre-pregnancy BMI, 6.4% of our participants were underweight, 74.4% were normal weight and 19.2% were overweight or obese. Although the majority of our pregnant women was in the normal pre-pregnancy BMI category (74.4%), there were more women aged > 35 in the overweight and obese category. According to our results, the risk of being overweight or obese also increased with the number of pregnancies, which indicates possible accumulation of weight between pregnancies. Additionally, a trend of higher rate of Caesarean section was observed in the overweight/obese category. In conclusion, pregnancy should be planned before 35 years of age, if possible, and women should be encouraged to enter a new pregnancy only when the desired pre-pregnancy body weight is accomplished. This will then also prevent possible adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as Caesarean section.

A COMPLEX INTERACTION BETWEEN MATERNAL AGE, NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND PREGNANCY OUTCOMES - RESULTS FROM THE CRIBS BRITH COHORT STUDY