Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2009 Nov;80(5):463-8.
doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2009.03.017. Epub 2009 May 9.

Contraceptive use by obese women 1 year postpartum

Jeanette R Chin  1 , Geeta K Swamy, Truls Østbye, Lori A Bastian
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Contraceptive use by obese women 1 year postpartum

Jeanette R Chin et al. Contraception. 2009 Nov.

Abstract

Background: Obese women have higher rates of pregnancy complications, making the prevention of unintended pregnancies in this group of particular importance.

Study design: We performed a secondary analysis of data from Active Mothers Postpartum (AMP), a randomized controlled trial aimed at postpartum weight reduction. We assessed contraceptive use among 361 overweight/obese women 12 months postpartum. Logistic regression was used to model the effect of body mass index (BMI) categories on effective contraceptive use (intrauterine, hormonal or sterilization methods) while adjusting for potential confounders including age, race, parity, breastfeeding, education and chronic illness.

Results: Effective contraceptive use was reported by 45% of women. In the multivariable model, women with a BMI >or=35 kg/m(2) were less likely to use effective contraception than women with a BMI <30 kg/m(2) (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.8). There was a trend towards less use of effective contraception among women with a BMI 30-34.9 kg/m(2) as compared to women with a BMI <30 kg/m(2).

Conclusion: At 12 months postpartum, obese women were less likely to use effective contraceptive methods than overweight women. Although certain contraceptive methods may be preferred over others in this population, providers should reinforce the importance of effective contraception to avoid unintended pregnancies in obese women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, McDowell MA, Tabak CJ, Flegal KM. Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999–2004. JAMA. 2006;295:1549–55. - PubMed
    1. Cedergren MI. Maternal morbid obesity and the risk of adverse pregnancy outcome. Obstet Gynecol. 2004;103:219–24. - PubMed
    1. Weiss JL, Malone FD, Emig D, et al. Obesity, obstetric complications and cesarean delivery rate--a population-based screening study. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2004;190:1091–7. - PubMed
    1. Sebire NJ, Jolly M, Harris JP, et al. Maternal obesity and pregnancy outcome: a study of 287,213 pregnancies in London. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2001;25:1175–82. - PubMed
    1. Young TK, Woodmansee B. Factors that are associated with cesarean delivery in a large private practice: the importance of prepregnancy body mass index and weight gain. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2002;187:312–8. - PubMed

Publication types