- Title
- Weight retention in the postpartum period
- Creator
- Martin, Julia
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- Masters Research - Master of Philosophy (MPhil)
- Description
- Overweight and obesity in women contributes to preventable morbidity and is associated with significant health care costs. Weight gain is multifactorial. However, many women attribute their adult weight gain to childbearing and this weight has a tendency to be retained for many years. Although the research on postpartum weight retention (WR) is limited, numerous contributing factors have been identified. These factors include pre-pregnancy Body Mass Index (BMI), excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) and breastfeeding duration. Unfortunately, breastfeeding duration rates are suboptimal in the Australian population and fail to meet national and international recommendations. In addition to this, evidence has revealed women with a high BMI have reduced breastfeeding rates compared to women with a lower BMI. Postpartum women need to be targeted to improve their long-term health outcomes with particular focus on maximizing the benefits of breastfeeding and to reduce WR. This thesis has two main objectives. The first objective is to firstly further identify factors which contribute to excessive WR. This was achieved using data from an established prospective longitudinal cohort of 180 women. From this data, increasing GWG, parity and breastfeeding were identified as factors associated with WR. The second thesis objective was to assess the feasibility of performing a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of a weight management program versus a control arm for overweight and obese mothers, delivered through maternal health clinics. To achieve this objective a pilot RCT was performed. This RCT enrolled 36 pregnant women who were followed from 26 weeks gestation up until six months postpartum. Data were collected on anthropometry, socio-demographics, medical and psychosocial variables as well as glucose and lipid blood biomarkers. Women were randomised to receive a weight management program during pregnancy with or without support from an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) or to a control group. The control group received the same weight management program deferred until three months postpartum. Results revealed no statistically significant differences between the three groups for WR, breastfeeding initiation or duration or markers of lipid and glucose metabolism at three or six months postpartum. The sample size (n=36) was too small to detect significance. Despite this, results were in the expected direction and favored the intervention groups over the control group and suggest that this study design is feasible. In conclusion, the findings presented in this thesis provide evidence from a pilot RCT of 36 women that investigation of support for women in the postpartum period to reduce WR and increase breastfeeding success is warranted. Controlling postpartum weight retention will potentially improve the long-term health profile of mothers.
- Subject
- postpartum weight retention; body mass index; gestational weight gain; breastfeeding
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1036166
- Identifier
- uon:13216
- Rights
- Copyright 2013 Julia Martin
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Abstract | 224 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Thesis | 4 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |