Background: Evidence denotes a direct association between parity and overnutrition in developing societies. This work aims to assess the relationship between them in Peruvian women, and to investigate whether this association varies by place of residence and socioeconomic status.
Methods: We used secondary data from the National Health and Demographic Survey 2011 of Peru (ENDES 2011). Parity was the independent variable, defined as the number of children ever born to a woman. The outcome variable was the body mass index (BMI), with cut-off points of 25-30 kg/m2 and =30 kg/m2, for overweight and obesity; respectively. We included other variables due to their potential confounding or modification effect, such as: age, place of residence, wealth index, education, and frequency of watching television. We used a significance level of 5%.
Results: We analyzed information of 18262 women. The mean BMI was 25.9 Kg/m2 (SD±4.6). The overall prevalence of obesity and overweight was of 17.2% and 35.0%, respectively. Rural and urban women reported having had 2.5 (95%CI: 2.4-2.6) and 1.5 (95%CI: 1.4-1.5) ever born children, respectively. We found a positive association between parity and overnutrition, and identified the effect modification of place of residence and wealth. The relationship between parity with overweight or obesity was stronger in urban than in rural areas. Women in the bottom and top groups of wealth index showed stronger associations than the other categories of socioeconomic status.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the more childbirths a woman has, the more likely she is of being overweight or obese. This relationship varies by socioeconomic status and area of residence. Identification of increased BMI in women, especially after the first childbirth, should be evaluated in primary care to establish adequate public health policies to tackle obesity in Peruvian women.