A Study of the Prepregnancy Body Mass Index and Two-month-postpartum Weight Loss in the Uncomplicated Term Pregnancy.

Kim, Hwa Won; Kim, Young Sin; Yu, Jae Hyung; Lee, Jeong Kyung; Kang, Chang Seong; Park, Sung Chul; Kim, Young Jae; Park, Jong Kyou; Kim, Hae Sung

Original Article

Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2003;46(12):2446-2450.
Published online December 1, 2003.

A Study of the Prepregnancy Body Mass Index and Two-month-postpartum Weight Loss in the Uncomplicated Term Pregnancy.

Hwa Won Kim, Young Sin Kim, Jae Hyung Yu, Jeong Kyung Lee, Chang Seong Kang, Sung Chul Park, Young Jae Kim, Jong Kyou Park, Hae Sung Kim

¹Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Han-il Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
²Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, An-yang Hospital, Anyang, Korea.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To determine the mean two-month-postpartum weight loss, standard deviations and the 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles in the uncomplicated term pregnancy and to examine association between prepregnancy body mass index and two-month-postpartum weight loss. METHODS: We analyzed the two-month-postpartum weight loss data from 175 women who had healthy singleton term pregnancy in Han-il Hospital (Jan 2002-Dec 2002). Data were categorized in three groups according to body mass index. RESULTS: Mean two-month-postpartum weight loss was 9.46 +/- 3.42 kg. There was no statistically significant difference between prepregancy BMI groups and two-month-postpartum weight loss. The more weight gained during pregnancy, the more that was lost at two-month-postpartum. Parous women retained more of their pregnancy weight. Compared with women who delivered vaginally, women who delivered cesarean experienced greater weight loss at two-month-postpartum. CONCLUSION: More careful postpartum care according to the two-month-postpartum weight loss table is needed to prevent long-term obesity.

Key Words: Body mass index, Two-month-postpartum weight loss