Miss Jenny Zhang1, Associate Professor Amanda Henry1,2, Dr Lynne Roberts2,3, Dr Megan Gow1,4,5
1Discipline of Women’s Health, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine and Health, Sydney, Australia, 2Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, St George Hospital, Kogarah, Australia, 3St George and Sutherland Clinical Campus, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine and Health, Kogarah, Australia, 4Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine and Health, Sydney, Australia, 5The University of Sydney Children’s Hospital Westmead Clinical School, Sydney, Australia
Biography:
Jenny is a 5th year medical student at UNSW Sydney, conducting her Honours in 2023 under the supervision of Dr Megan Gow and A/Prof Amanda Henry. She has a keen interest in women's health and hopes to continue learning about this exciting field during the final years of her degree.
Abstract:
Background and Aim: Following hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), including preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, and chronic hypertension, women have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Lifestyle interventions have been shown to prevent CVD in the general population, but few studies have investigated interventions in women following HDP. This study compares changes in diet and physical activity of 3 different lifestyle interventions in women with prior HDP from 6 to 12 months postpartum.
Methods: Secondary data analysis from BP², a 3-arm randomised controlled trial conducted across six Sydney hospitals¹. Baseline data and post-intervention data were collected at 6 and 12 months postpartum, respectively. Participants were randomly allocated to one of 3 lifestyle interventions of increasing intensity (Group 1: optimised usual care; Group 2: brief education intervention; Group 3: extended lifestyle intervention). Diet and physical activity outcomes, and cardiometabolic measures including blood pressure, weight and waist circumference, were measured at 6- and 12-months.
Results: Complete 6- and 12-month data were available for 405 women (Group 1 n=129, Group 2 n=137, Group 3 n=139). There were no significant differences in fruit intake and physical activity levels among the three groups at 12-months. Overall intake was poor, with only 9% of women meeting recommended vegetable intake at 12 months. There was a significant increase in median vegetable serves per day at 12-months compared to 6-months (3.0 vs 2.0, p=0.001) for Group 3, but not for Group 1 or 2. Hot fried potato serves, salty snack serves and fast-food consumption decreased significantly for Groups 2 and 3, but not Group 1. At 12-months, both Group 2 and 3 participants reported nutritional information having more influence on purchased foods (p=0.01 and p<0.001, respectively).
Conclusion: More intensive lifestyle intervention improved nutrition awareness and some diet aspects 12 months following HDP, which could improve women’s cardiometabolic health longer-term.
Keywords
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, postpartum, diet
References
1. Henry, A. et al. Blood pressure postpartum (BP²) RCT protocol: Follow-up and lifestyle behaviour change strategies in the first 12 months after hypertensive pregnancy. Pregnancy Hypertension 22, 1-6 (2020).