Abstract: Objective: To analyze the effect of prenatal guidance on nutrition, exercise and weight control in the first and second trimester of pregnancy on neonatal outcomes. Methods: A retrospective cohort study method of cluster sampling was used. The parturient women who received regular prenatal examinations and delivered single live births in our hospital were recruited in the study. The observational group were the cases who delivered the baby before October 31th 2019 when nutrition, exercise and weight-control class had changed into the first and second trimester, the control group were the cases who delivered the baby in the same months in 2018 when such classes were held in the second and third trimester. The neonatal outcomes of the two groups were compared. Results: Compared with the control group (5.2%), the observation group (3.6%) had significantly lower incidence of macrosomia (P=0.003). For the pregnant women of advanced maternal age, the observation group (5.2%) had significantly lower incidence (P=0.031) of SGA (small for gestational age infant) than the control group (7.5%). The incidence of preterm newborn in the observation group was higher than the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant after controlling for the age (P=0.073). Conclusion: Nutrition, exercise and weight control education in the first and second trimester could reduce the incidence of birth weight abnormalities in newborns.

Key words: prenatal education, prenatal nutrition, weight control, neonatal outcomes