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. (Am J Public Health. 2009;99:294-299. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2007.132373)