Original articleThe Role of Parity in Gestational Weight Gain and Postpartum Weight Retention
Section snippets
Participants and Procedure
Pregnant women who were less than 18 weeks pregnant, over the age of 18 years, and carrying a singleton fetus were recruited via advertising on online pregnancy forums, parenting magazines, or through the maternity clinics at large tertiary hospitals in the Western and Eastern regions of Melbourne, Australia. Women who were interested in participating in this prospective longitudinal study were provided with a Plain Language Statement and gave written informed consent. Participants completed
Participant Characteristics
One hundred thirty-eight women were tracked during pregnancy and the first year after birth. Participant characteristics are presented in Table 1. Mean prepregnancy BMI, GWG, and 6 and 12 month postpartum BMI for both primiparous and multiparous women are presented in Table 2. Seventy women (50.7%) were primiparous and 68 women (49.3%) were multiparous. Overall, women tended to be married or in a de facto relationship (i.e., a couple living together in a relationship who are not married), born
Discussion
The aim of this study was to explore, using a prospective design, whether GWG or PPWR differed between primiparous and multiparous women in an Australian sample. We found no difference between total GWG or classification of GWG according to IOM recommendations between primiparous and multiparous women after controlling for age and prepregnancy BMI. In contrast, we found that primiparous women were more likely to retain weight at 12 months postpartum (but not at 6 months postpartum) when
Acknowledgments
The authors are indebted to the participants who took part in this study. BH had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.
Briony Hill, PhD, is an Associate Lecturer in the School of Psychology, Deakin University, Australia. Her research centers on maternal obesity prevention, with a focus on psychosocial well-being and health behaviour change during the periconception period.
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Briony Hill, PhD, is an Associate Lecturer in the School of Psychology, Deakin University, Australia. Her research centers on maternal obesity prevention, with a focus on psychosocial well-being and health behaviour change during the periconception period.
Skye McPhie, DPsych(Health), is a Lecturer in the School of Psychology, Deakin University, Australia. Her research interests are in obesity prevention, the relationship between mothers and children, and health and well-being during pregnancy.
Helen Skouteris, PhD, is a Professor in Developmental Psychology, Deakin University, Australia. Her research interests are focused on maternal and child health and well-being, in particular maternal obesity and psychopathology during pregnancy and after birth.
Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.