Obesity & Pregnancy

An Epidemiological & Intervention Study from a Psychosocial Perspective



By Annick Bogaerts
July 2013
Garant
Distributed By
ISBN: 9789546426659                     
220 pages
$57.50 Paper original


Maternal obesity and excessive gestational weight gain are both important health care issues contributing to increased perinatal complications in the short, medium and long term for both the mother and her infant. The epidemiological and psychological characteristics of maternal obesity and related socio-demographic and obsterical correlates, provide evidencefor a tailored weight management strategy for obese women before, during and after a pregnancy. In this doctoral thesis, we identify socio-demographic, obstetrical and psychological characteristics of maternal obesity, we find evidence for beneficial outcomes of a lifestyle intervention programme in obese pregnant women, and we find support for longer term perinatal complications with postpartum weight retention between the first and second pregnancy. Further development and implementation of preconception programmes based on bio-psycho-social model that explicitly recognizes the individual needs and interacting lifestlye factors in obese women of reproductive age in order to prevent pre-pregnanc obesity, excessive gertational weight gain and postpartum weight retention is a challenge for the neat future.

 

Return to Coronet Books main page