TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of Having a Baby on Weight Gain
AU - Brown, Wendy J.
AU - Hockey, Richard
AU - Dobson, Annette J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, which was conceived and developed by groups of interdisciplinary researchers at the Universities of Newcastle and Queensland, is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. We thank Drs. Yvette Miller and Leigh Tooth for their work on earlier stages of this project and all the participants for their valuable contribution to this study.
PY - 2010/2
Y1 - 2010/2
N2 - Background: Women often blame weight gain in early adulthood on having a baby. Purpose: The aim was to estimate the weight gain attributable to having a baby, after disentangling the effects of other factors that influence weight change at this life stage. Methods: A longitudinal study of a randomly selected cohort of 6458 Australian women, aged 18-23 years in 1996, was conducted. Self-report mailed surveys were completed in 1996, 2000, 2003, and 2006, and data were analyzed in 2008. Results: On average, women gained weight at the rate of 0.93% per year (95% CI=0.89, 0.98) or 605 g/year (95% CI=580, 635) for a 65-kg woman. Over the 10-year study period, partnered women with one baby gained almost 4 kg more, and those with a partner but no baby gained 1.8 kg more, than unpartnered childless women (after adjustment for other significant factors: initial BMI and age; physical activity, sitting time, energy intake (2003); education level, hours in paid work, and smoking). Conclusions: Having a baby has a marked effect on 10-year weight gain, but there is also an effect attributable to getting married or living with a partner. Social and lifestyle as well as energy balance variables should be considered when developing strategies to prevent weight gain in young adult women.
AB - Background: Women often blame weight gain in early adulthood on having a baby. Purpose: The aim was to estimate the weight gain attributable to having a baby, after disentangling the effects of other factors that influence weight change at this life stage. Methods: A longitudinal study of a randomly selected cohort of 6458 Australian women, aged 18-23 years in 1996, was conducted. Self-report mailed surveys were completed in 1996, 2000, 2003, and 2006, and data were analyzed in 2008. Results: On average, women gained weight at the rate of 0.93% per year (95% CI=0.89, 0.98) or 605 g/year (95% CI=580, 635) for a 65-kg woman. Over the 10-year study period, partnered women with one baby gained almost 4 kg more, and those with a partner but no baby gained 1.8 kg more, than unpartnered childless women (after adjustment for other significant factors: initial BMI and age; physical activity, sitting time, energy intake (2003); education level, hours in paid work, and smoking). Conclusions: Having a baby has a marked effect on 10-year weight gain, but there is also an effect attributable to getting married or living with a partner. Social and lifestyle as well as energy balance variables should be considered when developing strategies to prevent weight gain in young adult women.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=73649093407&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.amepre.2009.09.044
DO - 10.1016/j.amepre.2009.09.044
M3 - Article
C2 - 20117572
AN - SCOPUS:73649093407
SN - 0749-3797
VL - 38
SP - 163
EP - 170
JO - American Journal of Preventive Medicine
JF - American Journal of Preventive Medicine
IS - 2
ER -
