{
  "abstract": "Introduction Gestational weight gain (GWG) is an important indicator of maternal nutrition to be monitored during pregnancy. However, there is no evidence-based tool that can be used to monitor it across all geographic locations and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) categories. The WHO is undertaking a project to develop GWG charts by pre-pregnancy BMI category, and to identify GWG ranges associated with the lowest risks of adverse maternal and infant outcomes. This protocol describes all the steps that will be used to accomplish the development of these GWG charts.Methods and analysis This project will involve the analysis of individual participant data (researcher-collected or administrative). To identify eligible datasets with GWG data, a literature review will be conducted and a global call for data will be launched by the WHO. Eligible individual datasets obtained from multiple sources will be harmonised into a pooled database. The database will undergo steps of cleaning, data quality assessment and application of individual-level inclusion criteria. Heterogeneity of maternal weight and GWG will be assessed to verify the possibility of combining datasets from multiple sources and regions into a single database. Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape will be applied for the construction of the centile curves. Diagnostic measures, internal and external validation procedures will also be performed.Ethics and dissemination This project will include an analysis of existing study de-identified data. To be included in the pooled database, each included study should have received ethics approvals from relevant committees. Manuscripts will be submitted to open-access journals and a WHO document will be published, including the GWG charts and cut-offs for application in antenatal care.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Thais Rangel Bousquet Carrilho"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland"
      ],
      "name": "Olufemi Taiwo Oladapo"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada"
      ],
      "name": "Jennifer A Hutcheon"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nutrition and Food Safety Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland"
      ],
      "name": "Giovanna Gatica-Domínguez"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Kathleen M Rasmussen"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nutrition and Food Safety Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland"
      ],
      "name": "Monica C Flores-Urrutia"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nutrition and Food Safety Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland"
      ],
      "name": "Richard Kumapley"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland"
      ],
      "name": "Ӧzge Tunçalp"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nutrition and Food Safety Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland"
      ],
      "name": "Dang Bahya-Batinda"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Princess Noura Bint AbdulRahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"
      ],
      "name": "Amel A Fayed"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "REALIFE Research Group, Research Unit Woman and Child, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium",
        "Faculty of Health, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Annick Bogaerts"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK",
        "Oxford Maternal & Perinatal Health Institute, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Aris T Papageorghiou"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nutrition and Bioprogramming Department of the Research Division, National Institute of Perinatology, Mexico City, Mexico"
      ],
      "name": "Cinthya Muñoz-Manrique"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nutritional Epidemiology Observatory, Department of Social and Applied Nutrition, Josué de Castro Institute of Nutrition, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"
      ],
      "name": "Dayana Rodrigues Farias"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and International Health, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Eric Ohuma"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Paediatrics, Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, New Delhi, New Delhi, India"
      ],
      "name": "Harshpal Sachdev"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Family and Community Medicine, Research-chair of Evidence-based Healthcare and Knowledge Translation, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia"
      ],
      "name": "Hayfaa A Wahabi"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Helena J Teede"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Clinical Epidemiology Division, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden",
        "Department of Women’s Health, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden"
      ],
      "name": "Kari Johansson"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA",
        "Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Lisa M Bodnar"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA",
        "Channing Division of Network Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Molin Wang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Nandita Perumal"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nutrition Research Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh"
      ],
      "name": "S M Tafsir Hasan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Kinesiology and Public Health, Bailey College of Science and Mathematics, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Suzanne Phelan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nutrition and Food Safety Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland"
      ],
      "name": "Elaine Borghi"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Nutritional Epidemiology Observatory, Department of Social and Applied Nutrition, Josué de Castro Institute of Nutrition, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil"
      ],
      "name": "Gilberto Kac"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Protocol for the development of the WHO gestational weight gain charts",
  "uid": "11667b0e-8577-5d13-aed8-3d58a1a8bece"
}