Pregnancy is a time of significant changes occurring in the composition of a woman's body in order to provide support for the growth and development of the foetus. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is used to assess the body composition and hydration status. This technique represents a non-invasive, reliable, and fast clinical approach, which is well tolerated by patients. A segmental impedance measurement might be advantageous in pregnant women, particularly in late pregnancy. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of different applications of BIA in pregnant and postpartum women. It seems that BIA has a better prognostic potential for gestational and post-partum outcomes than body mass index. The BIA method can be successfully used to study the effect of excessive gestational weight gain in pregnancy on the development of obstetric complications. Studying the mother's body composition and correlating it with her energy balance could facilitate the development of dietary recommendations for women. Evaluation of the body composition can provide important clues for diagnosis of gestational diabetes mellitus in pregnant women with a low risk of this disease. BIA is also used as one of the additional tests in assessing the risk of developing gestational hypertension and preeclampsia.
Keywords: bioelectric impedance analysis; body fat percentage; cardiovascular disease risk; gestational diabetes mellitus; gestational weight gain; obesity; preeclampsia.