CORRELATION OF PRE-PREGNANCY BMI, SLEEP AND DEPRESSION WITH POSTPARTUM WEIGHT RETENTION AMONG CHILBEARING AGE WOMEN

Background: Postpartum weight retention (PWR) triggers future obesity among women of childbearing age. Data regarding the influence of postpartum sleep, depression and weight retention is limited. This study aims to determine the correlation of pre-pregnancy BMI, sleep and depression with PWR at 6 months after childbirth of childbearing age women from selected health clinics in Negeri Sembilan. Materials and Methods: Data were collected from 226 women aged 31 ± 4.6 years old who attended Seremban, Ampangan and Senawang Health Clinics from January to August 2015. Respondents were enrolled in the respective health clinics and the maternal interviews conducted at 6 months after childbirth during a home visit. A set of pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data for socio-demographic, anthropometric data including pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), sleep duration and postpartum depression. Result: The mean PWR was 2.6 ± 5.3 kg with 27.4% retained more than 5kg. The respondents slept on average 6.1 ± 1.4 hours with 31.9% slept less than 5 hours. The postpartum depression score was 4.1 ± 3.5 which generally categorised as no postpartum depression. However, about 8.8% had postpartum depressive symptoms. About 36.3% of the respondents were either overweight or obese before the pregnancy with a mean pre-pregnancy BMI of 23.9 ± 5.2 kg/m 2 . Pre-pregnancy BMI was associated with PWR (r= -0.297, p= 0.001). However, other factors were not associated with PWR. Conclusion: About one-third of the respondents retained excess weight, and a lower prepregnancy BMI was associated with greater weight retention. Appropriate measures that target these groups of women with lower BMI before and throughout pregnancy could alter their weight trajectory, hence reducing the risk of obesity among childbearing age women.