Is it worth weighing pregnant women in a developing country?

In order to find out which criteria could be useful for pregnancy screening and referral, the maternal weight gain curves of 251 patients have been reviewed. Three alarm signs (gain greater than 1.0 kg/w; no gain for 4 weeks and weight loss) have been assessed and correlated with the occurrence of macrosomia, twin pregnancy, fetal intrauterine growth retardation and intrauterine death. Although excessive weight gain appears statistically linked to preeclampsia, macrosomia and twin pregnancy the sensitivity and specificity of a system using these criteria are unacceptably low.