Parity and the prevalence of overweight

Live Births in Women over 40 Years of Age Correlate with Obesity Rates

AIMS

This cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the relationship between live birth and the prevalence of obesity in Chinese women over 40 years of age.

METHODS

From April to November 2011, the Endocrinology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association conducted the REACTION project, a national, multicenter, cross-sectional study of Chinese adults aged 40 years and older. Demographic and medical data were collected through validated questionnaires and equipment. Anthropometric indicators, blood pressure, and biochemical data were measured by professional medical personnel. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic analysis. Multivariate regression models were used to analyze obesity-related risk factors.

RESULTS

The prevalence of obesity among women increased gradually from 3.8% to 6.0% with an increasing number of live births. Women with two live births had the highest prevalence of overweight at 34.3%. Overall, the obesity and overweight rates were slightly higher in premenopausal women than in postmenopausal women. Univariate regression analysis showed that the risk of obesity in women increased with an increasing number of live births. In addition, multivariate regression analysis showed that the risk of obesity increased with an increasing number of live births in women with systolic blood pressure (SBP) < 121 mmHg or current smoking (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The risk of obesity increases with the number of live births in Chinese women over 40 years of age with SBP < 121 mmHg or current smoking. Our findings may facilitate the development of interventions to prevent obesity in this population.

Retinal Venule Coverage by Pericytes Decreases in Multiparous Mice in a Time-Dependent Manner Post-Delivery

Structural changes in the retinal vasculature have been linked to increased cardiovascular risks and also change as a function of age. Because multiparity has been associated with poorer cardiovascular health scores, we hypothesized that changes in retinal vascular caliber would be observed in multiparous, compared to nulliparous, females and retired breeder males. Age-matched nulliparous (n = 6) and multiparous (n = 11, retired breeder females with 4 ± 1 litters), and male breeder (n = 7) SMA-GFP reporter mice were included for assessment of retinal vascular structure. Multiparous females had higher body mass, heart weight, and kidney weight compared to nulliparous mice, with lower kidney and higher brain weight compared to male breeders. There was no difference in number of retinal arterioles or venules, or arteriole or venule diameter among groups; however, venous pericyte density (number per venule area) decreased in multiparous vs. nulliparous mice and was negatively associated with the time since last litter and with age. Our results suggest that the time elapsed since delivery is an important factor to be considered in multiparity studies. Taken together, changes in vascular structure and potentially function, are time- and age-dependent. Ongoing and future work will determine whether structural changes are associated with functional consequences at the blood-retinal barrier.

Double burden of underweight and overweight among Indian adults: spatial patterns and social determinants

OBJECTIVE

The current study explores the spatial patterns of underweight and overweight among adult men and women in districts of India and identifies the micro-geographical locations where the risks of underweight and overweight are simultaneously prevalent, after accounting for demographic and socio-economic factors.

DESIGN

We relied on BMI (weight (kg)/height squared (m2)), a measure of nutritional status among adult individuals, from the 2015-2016 National Family and Health Survey. Underweight was defined as <18·5 kg/m2 and overweight as ≥25·0 kg/m2.

SETTING

We adopted Bayesian structured additive quantile regression to model the underlying spatial structure in underweight and overweight burden.

PARTICIPANTS

Men aged 15-54 years (sample size: 108 092) and women aged 15-49 years (sample size: 642 002).

RESULTS

About 19·7 % of men and 22·9 % of women were underweight, and 19·6 % of men and 20·6 % of women were overweight. Results indicate that malnutrition burden in adults exhibits geographical divides across the country. Districts located in the central, western and eastern regions show higher risks of underweight. There is evidence of substantial spatial clustering of districts with higher risk of overweight in southern and northern India. While finding a little evidence on double burden of malnutrition among population groups, we identified a total of sixty-six double burden districts.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study demonstrates that the geographical burden of overweight in Indian adults is yet to surpass that of underweight, but the coexistence of double burden of underweight and overweight in selected regions presents a new challenge for improving nutritional status and necessitates specialised policy initiatives.

Association between parity and obesity in Mexican and Mexican-American women: findings from the Ella binational breast cancer study

Obesity at diagnosis of breast cancer is associated with higher all-cause mortality and treatment-associated toxicities. We evaluated the association between parity and obesity in the Ella study, a population of Mexican and Mexican-American breast cancer patients with high parity. Obesity outcomes included body mass index (BMI) ≥30 kg/m(2), waist circumference (WC) ≥35 in (88 cm), and waist-to-hip-ratio (WHR) ≥0.85. Prevalence of obesity ([BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m(2)) was 38.9 %. For WC, the multivariate odds ratio (OR) (95 % confidence interval [CI]) for having WC ≥ 35 inches in women with ≥4 pregnancies relative to those with 1-2 pregnancies was 1.59 (1.01-2.47). Higher parity (≥4 pregnancies) was non-significantly associated with high BMI (OR = 1.10; 95 % CI 0.73-1.67). No positive association was observed for WHR. Our results suggest WC is independently associated with high parity in Hispanic women and may be an optimal target for post-partum weight loss interventions.

Relationship between adiposity and admixture in African-American and Hispanic-American women

Objective

To investigate whether differences in admixture in African American (AFA) and Hispanic American (HA) adult women are associated with adiposity and adipose distribution.

Design

The proportion of European, sub– Saharan African and Amerindian admixture was estimated for AFA and HA women in the Women's Heath Initiative using 92 ancestry informative markers. Analyses assessed the relationship between admixture and adiposity indices.

Subjects

11712 AFA and 5088 HA self– identified post– menopausal women.

Results

There was a significant positive association between body mass index (BMI) and African admixture when BMI was considered as a continuous variable, and age, education, physical activity, parity, family income and smoking were included covariates (p < 10^{− 4}). A dichotomous model (upper and lower BMI quartiles) showed that African admixture was associated with a high odds ratio [OR = 3.27 (for 100% admixture compared to 0% admixture), 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.08 – 5.15]. For HA there was no association between BMI and admixture. In contrast, when waist to hip ratio (WHR) was used as a measure of adipose distribution, there was no significant association between WHR and admixture in AFA but there was a strong association in HA (p<10^{− 4}; OR Amerindian admixture = 5.93, CI = 3.52 – 9.97).

Conclusion

These studies show that 1) African admixture is associated with BMI in AFA women; 2) Amerindian admixture is associated with WHR but not BMI in HA women; and 3) it may be important to consider different measurements of adiposity and adipose distribution in different ethnic population groups.

Maternal body mass index and risk of testicular cancer in male offspring: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

To date a number of studies have examined the association between maternal weight and testicular cancer risk although results have been largely inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the nature of this association.

METHODS

Search strategies were conducted in Ovid Medline (1950-2009), Embase (1980-2009), Web of Science (1970-2009), and CINAHL (1937-2009) using keywords for maternal weight (BMI) and testicular cancer.

RESULTS

The literature search produced 1689 hits from which 63 papers were extracted. Only 7 studies met the pre-defined criteria. Random effects meta-analyses were conducted. The combined unadjusted OR (95% CI) of testicular cancer in the highest reported category of maternal BMI compared with the moderate maternal BMI was 0.82 (0.65-1.02). The Cochran's Q P value was 0.82 and the corresponding I(2) was 0%, both indicating very little variability among studies. The combined unadjusted OR (95% CI) for testicular cancer risk in the lowest reported category of maternal BMI compared to a moderate maternal BMI category was 0.88 (0.65-1.20). The Cochran's Q P value was 0.05 and the corresponding I(2) was 54%, indicating evidence of statistical heterogeneity. The combined unadjusted OR (95% CI) of testicular cancer risk per unit increase in maternal BMI was 1.01 (0.97-1.06). The Cochran's Q test had a P value of 0.05 and the corresponding I(2) was 55% indicating evidence of statistical heterogeneity.

CONCLUSION

This meta-analysis, which included a small number of studies, showed that a higher maternal weight does not increase the risk of testicular cancer in male offspring. Though an inverse association between high maternal BMI and testicular cancer risk was detected, it was not statistically significant. Further primary studies with adjustment for appropriate confounders are required.

Sex differences in obesity associated with total fertility rate

The identification of biological and ecological factors that contribute to obesity may help in combating the spreading obesity crisis. Sex differences in obesity rates are particularly poorly understood. Here we show that the strong female bias in obesity in many countries is associated with high total fertility rate, which is well known to be correlated with factors such as low average income, infant mortality and female education. We also document effects of reduced access to contraception and increased inequality of income among households on obesity rates. These results are consistent with studies that implicate reproduction as a risk factor for obesity in women and that suggest the effects of reproduction interact with socioeconomic and educational factors. We discuss our results in the light of recent research in dietary ecology and the suggestion that insulin resistance during pregnancy is due to historic adaptation to protect the developing foetus during famine. Increased access to contraception and education in countries with high total fertility rate might have the additional benefit of reducing the rates of obesity in women.

Parity is associated with increased waist circumference and other anthropometric indices of obesity

BACKGROUND

There is growing interest in the effect of childbearing on the development of chronic medical conditions. In the present study we aim at seeing whether parity is associated with increased waist circumference (WC) and other anthropometric indices of obesity, or not, in a sample of Iraqi women.

METHODS

This was a cross sectional study conducted during the period from January 2006 to the end of December 2007. Subjects were women attending two primary health care centers in a rural district population in Basrah (Abu-Al-khasib district), Iraq.

RESULTS

A total of 9135 women with a mean age of 46.4+/-15.5 years were included in the study. The mean weight was 69.9+/-16.9 kg and the mean WC was 92.7+/-15.0 cm with 78.9% of women having WC >or=80 cm. The mean and the standard deviation of other anthropometric variables were 27.0+/-6.25 for body mass index (BMI), 0.57+/-0.09 for waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) and 0.89+/-0.08 for waist-to-hip ratio (WHpR). Body weight, WC, BMI, WHpR, and WHtR progressively and significantly increased with increasing parity (p<0.001). Increasing age and higher number of births were associated with a consistent significant increase in the risk of increasing WC. While the reverse was true with respect to education, the risk of increased WC significantly decreased with the increase in education. The risk of increased WC was higher among housewives compared to employed women. On multiple logistic regression analyses of parity and risk of increasing WC, the number of births remained significantly and independently associated with increased WC after adjustment for a range of potential confounders (age, BMI, employment, education, and marital status). However, when parity was analyzed as a dichotomous variable (parous versus nulliparous), no significant association was found (p>0.05).

CONCLUSION

Parity was associated with increased WC and other anthropometric indices of obesity in a sample of rural Iraqi women attending two primary health care centers.

Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences in the incidence of obesity related to childbirth

OBJECTIVES

We investigated the relationship between childbirth and 5-year incidence of obesity.

METHODS

We performed a prospective analysis of data on 2923 nonobese, nonpregnant women aged 14 to 22 years from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Cohort, which was followed from 1980 to 1990. We used multivariable logistic regression analyses to determine the adjusted relative risk of obesity for mothers 5 years after childbirth compared with women who did not have children.

RESULTS

The 5-year incidence of obesity was 11.3 per 100 parous women, compared with 4.5 per 100 nulliparous women (relative risk [RR] = 3.5; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.4, 4.9; P < .001). The 5-year incidence of obesity was 8.6 for primiparous women (RR = 2.8; 95% CI = 1.5, 5.0) and 12.2 for multiparous women (RR = 3.8; 95% CI = 2.6, 5.6). Among parous women, White women had the lowest obesity incidence (9.1 per 100 vs 15.1 per 100 for African Americans and 12.5 per 100 for Hispanics).

CONCLUSIONS

Parous women have a higher incidence of obesity than do nulliparous women, and minority women have a higher incidence of parity-related obesity than do White women. Thus, efforts to reduce obesity should target postpartum women and minority women who give birth.

The exceptionally high life expectancy of Costa Rican nonagenarians

Robust data from a voter registry show that Costa Rican nonagenarians have an exceptionally high live expectancy. Mortality at age 90 in Costa Rica is at least 14% lower than an average of 13 high-income countries. This advantage increases with age by 1% per year Males have an additional 12% advantage. Age-90 life expectancy for males is 4.4 years, one-half year more than any other country in the world. These estimates do not use problematic data on reported ages, but ages are computed from birth dates in the Costa Rican birth-registration ledgers. Census data confirm the exceptionally high survival of elderly Costa Ricans, especially males. Comparisons with the United States and Sweden show that the Costa Rican advantage comes mostly from reduced incidence of cardiovascular diseases, coupled with a low prevalence of obesity, as the only available explanatory risk factor Costa Rican nonagenarians are survivors of cohorts that underwent extremely harsh health conditions when young, and their advantage might be just a heterogeneity in frailty effect that might disappear in more recent cohorts. The availability of reliable estimates for the oldest-old in low-income populations is extremely rare. These results may enlighten the debate over how harsh early-life health conditions affect older-age mortality.

Weight retention from early pregnancy to three years postpartum: a study in Iranian women

OBJECTIVES

to examine weight retention from early pregnancy to three years postpartum in Iranian women.

DESIGN

a prospective cohort study.

SETTING

12 health centres selected at random in urban and rural areas in Guilan.

PARTICIPANTS

1315 pregnant women (705 in urban areas and 610 in rural areas) who regularly attended health centres for antenatal care and growth monitoring of their babies.

MEASUREMENTS

details of weight, height, pregnancy weight gain, body weight at one to three years postpartum, mother's age, parity, duration of any breast feeding, education and employment status of women who carried singleton fetuses and delivered at term were collected at the first antenatal visit. The women were categorised based on their pre-pregnancy body mass index, weight retention at one to three years postpartum, employment status and educational levels.

FINDINGS

women who gained more weight than recommended during pregnancy tended to be heavier at three years postpartum than women who gained weight within the recommended ranges during pregnancy (7.0 + or - 5.3 versus 4.8 + or - 6.7 kg; p < 0.0001). Less-educated women were at greater risk for inadequate pregnancy weight gain than other educational groups, and they had less weight retention at three years postpartum than other educational groups. Also, weight retention for primiparous women was higher than that for multiparous women (5.4 + or - 6.6 versus 3.8 + or - 6.3 kg; p < 0.0001). The results of logistic regression analysis revealed that only total pregnancy weight gain was independently related to major weight retention (> or = 4 kg) at three years postpartum (odds ratio 1.34, 95% confidence intervals 1.03-1.74; p = 0.02).

CONCLUSION

a high body mass index before pregnancy is not associated with increased risk of retaining more weight after pregnancy. On the other hand, total pregnancy weight gain was the most important determinant of weight retention at three years postpartum in this population of Iranian women.

The relationship between parity and overweight varies with household wealth and national development

BACKGROUND

Recent studies support a positive relationship between parity and overweight among women of developing countries; however, it is unclear whether these effects vary by household wealth and national development. Our objective was to determine whether the association between parity and overweight [body mass index (BMI) > or =25 kg/m(2)] in women living in developing countries varies with levels of national human development and/or household wealth.

METHODS

We used data from 28 nationally representative, cross-sectional surveys conducted between 1996 and 2003 (n = 275 704 women, 15-49 years). The relationship between parity and overweight was modelled using logistic regression, controlling for several biological and sociodemographic factors and national development, as reflected by the United Nations' Human Development Index. We also modelled the interaction between parity and national development, and the three-way interaction between parity, household wealth and national development.

RESULTS

Parity had a weak, positive association with overweight, which varied by household wealth and national development. Among the poorest women and women in the second tertile of household wealth, parity was positively related to overweight only in the most developed countries. Among the wealthiest women, parity was positively related to overweight regardless of the level of national development.

CONCLUSIONS

As development increases, the burden of parity-related overweight shifts to include poor as well as wealthy women. In the least-developed countries, programmes to prevent parity-related overweight should target wealthy women, whereas such programmes should be provided to all women in more developed countries.

Country development and the association between parity and overweight

INTRODUCTION

Parity is associated with overweight and obesity in developed countries and has been related to maternal depletion in poor developing countries. However, the literature from developing countries is limited and may not represent current stages of development.

METHODS

We analyzed data from 50 Demographic and Reproductive Health Surveys conducted between 1992 and 2003. We examined the association between parity (proxied by number of live births) and overweight (body mass index (BMI)> or =25 kg/m(2)) in relation to level of country wealth and development.

RESULTS

The odds ratio (OR) for overweight comparing women with at least four live births to women with one live birth was >1.0 in 38 of the 50 countries studied. The median OR was >1.0 in all regions studied and highest in North Africa/West Asia, where all countries had OR >1.0. Country wealth and development were both positively associated with the ORs.

CONCLUSIONS

The importance of parity as a predictor of overweight increases with national economic development and wealth. Policy implications might include the development and implementation of programs to prevent excessive gestational weight gain and promote postpartum weight loss via dietary change and physical activity, concomitant with exclusive breastfeeding.

Effect of husbands' education on fatness of wives

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between social position of females achieved by marriage and level of fatness and relative fat distribution. The data of 588 healthy, occupationally active, married women, age 21-62 years, with 12 years of education (completed secondary school) were used. The body mass index (BMI, kg/m(2) ), triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses, and summed skinfold thicknesses were used as indicators of fatness. The waist-hip ratio, the waist-thigh ratio, and waist, hip, and thigh circumferences were used as indicators of fat distribution. According to the educational level of husbands, women were grouped as 1). moving up the social scale (spouse with complete university education), 2). stable (equal level of education), and 3). moving down the social scale (spouse who never passed beyond the level of basic vocational school, i.e., skilled and unskilled manual workers). The two opposite groups were analyzed, i.e., moving up and moving down. Women with secondary schooling who married up were consistently leaner than women who married down. A similar pattern was observed for fat distribution. Women marrying down had more abdominal body fat compared to women marrying up.

Obesity and weight change related to parity and breast-feeding among parous women in Brazil

OBJECTIVE

Studies on the independent role of parity in long-term body weight change in economically developing countries are scarce and inconclusive, and only a few studies have taken into account patterns of breast-feeding. This association was examined in a national cross-sectional survey representative of Brazilian parous women.

DESIGN AND SETTING

The survey conducted in 1996 measured women's height and weight in the household and data on weight prior to the first pregnancy, parity and breast-feeding were recalled.

SUBJECTS

A sample of 2338 parous women, 15 to 49 years of age, 29 months after last delivery on average, had current body mass index (BMI, in kg m(-2)) modelled through hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis. Explanatory variables included parity, days of predominant breast-feeding, BMI pre-pregnancy, socio-economic, geographic, demographic and other reproductive variables.

RESULTS

Prevalences of overweight (BMI = 25.0-29.9 kg m(-2)) and obesity (BMI > or = 30.0 kg m(-2)) were 25.2% and 9.3%. The overall mean weight gain per year after the first pregnancy was 0.90 kg for an average time since first pregnancy of eight years. BMI pre-pregnancy modified the association between current BMI and parity. Therefore, weight change attributed to parity calculated for a woman of average height (1.56 m) was 0.60 kg greater for primiparous women with a BMI pre-pregnancy of 30 kg m(-2), compared with women with BMI pre-pregnancy of 25 kg m(-2). This greater weight retention among obese women was 1.21 kg for women with two children and 1.82 kg for women with three or more children. Parity reduced the effect of weight loss associated with lactation (1.75 kg for six months of lactation among primiparous women and 0.87 kg among women with three or more children). For the sub-sample of 793 primiparous women, a weight decrease of 300 g was associated with each month of predominant breast-feeding for all prior BMI levels.

CONCLUSIONS

In this study, weight change associated to reproduction was highly dependent on BMI previous to pregnancy and the effects of parity and lactation were small.

[Factors associated with abdominal obesity among childbearing-age women]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate variables potentially associated with abdominal obesity among childbearing-age women.

METHODS

A total of 781 women were studied based on data from the Nutrition and Health Survey conducted in 1996 in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Abdominal obesity was defined as waist girth (WG) > 80 cm or waist:hips girth ratio (WHR) > 0.85. Statistical analysis involved calculation of central trend measures. Calculating the odds ratio using multivariate logistic regression tested the association between abdominal obesity and BMI, age, parity, and tobacco use.

RESULTS

The highest frequencies of abdominal obesity were observed in women over 35 years of age and those with two or more children (50.7%). OR showed the effect of interaction between parity and age for WG>80 cm when only the effect of these two variables was controlled. Based on the logistic regression models, the study showed that when the population was categorized into women with and without overweight, schooling was the only factor associated with WHR, while the association with age and parity disappeared for WG>80 cm.

CONCLUSIONS

Abdominal obesity in this population group is independent of age and parity when adjusted by relative weight, with overall adiposity and schooling as the greatest determinant. Having more schooling meant having a smaller WHR. It is crucial to implement strategies to prevent the development of obesity in childbearing-age women.