Fatores de risco associados à retenção de peso seis meses após o parto

Cláudia Machado Coelho Souza de Vasconcelos, Fabrício da Silva Costa, Paulo César de Almeida, Edward Araujo Júnior, Helena Alves de Carvalho Sampaio

To identify risk factors for weight retention in women after childbirth. This was a prospective observational study that followed for six months adult women who delivered at a tertiary center. Were applied a structured questionnaire before hospital discharge and at six weeks and six months after childbirth, through home visits. The outcome was weight retention after childbirth (if risk >7.5 kg). The variables analyzed were: age, skin color, working during pregnancy, income, education, marital status, age at menarche, maternal age at first birth, parity, mode of delivery, birth interval, pre-pregnancy weight, gestational weight gain, percent body fat, and nutritional status. Data were first analyzed by bivariate analysis between prevalence of weight retention at six months and several covariates (p<0.2). We then calculated the Odds Ratio (OR) and their respective gross confidence intervals of 95% (95%CI) and finally performed multivariate logistic regression to control for confounding factors and to estimate the OR and 95%CI. The frequency of weight retention >7.5 kg by 6 months after delivery was 15%. In bivariate analysis, weight retention was associated with the following variables: age at menarche <12 years (OR=3.7; 95%CI1.1-13.2), gestational weight gain ≥16 kg (OR=5.8; 95%CI 1.8-18.6), percent body fat at baseline >30% (OR=5.0; 95%CI 1.1-23.6), and nutritional status by 6 weeks postpartum >25 kg/m2 (OR=7.7; 95%CI1.6-36.1). In multivariate analysis, only excessive gestational weight gain (OR=74.1; 95%CI 9.0-609.6) remained as a risk factor. Excessive weight gain during pregnancy should receive special attention in prenatal care in view of its association with weight retention and excess weight in women after childbirth.