Effects of maternal obesity on pregnancy related complaintsand power of self-care

The aim of this study was to determine effects of maternal obesity on pregnancy related complaint sand power of self-care. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in the delivery room of Aydın Gynecology, Obstetrics and Pediatric Diseases Hospital, Turkey. The study population included normal body weight pregnant women and obese pregnant women. Based on power analysis, we found that the effect size was 0.50, the standard error was (α) 0.05 and the confidence interval was 95%. As a result, the sample size was found to be 128 pregnant women, of whom 64 were obese and 64 had a normal body weight. The inclusion criterion was being at the age of 20-39 years for all the participants and having a body mass index of ≥30,0 for the obese women and a body mass index of ≤18,5-24,9 for the normal body weight women. Data were collected with General Characteristics Form, Antepartum Symptom Checklist and Self-care Scale. Obtained data were evaluated with descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney U test, Chi-square test and Student's t test. The mean age of the normal body weight women was 24,97±4,28 years. Of all these women, 56,3% were aged 20-24 years, 39,1% were secondary school graduates, 78,1% had a nuclear family, 39,1% were living in a town, 17,2% were employed, 7,6% had an income equal to their expenses, 12,5% did not have a health insurance, 14,1 were smokers before pregnancy and 10,9% were smoking during pregnancy. Duration of marriage was two years in this group. The mean age of the obese women was 27,38±4,54 years. Of all these women, 28,1% were aged 20-24 years, 50% were primary school graduates, 68,8% had a nuclear family, 43,8% were living in a village, 15,6% had a paid job, 75,0% had an income equal to their expenses, 18,8% did not have an health insurance, 20,3% were smokers before pregnancy and 12,5% were smoking during their pregnancy. Duration of marriage was six years in this age group. Eighty-five point nine percent of the normal body weight women and 82,8% of the obese women had 38-42 gestational weeks. Six point two percent of the normal body weight women and 15,6% of the obese women were taking medications and having chronic diseases. The mean body mass index was 22,00±1,62 in the normal body weight women and 32,37±2,63 in the obese women. There was a significant difference in the antepartum symptoms dyspepsia (p=0,007), conditions of the other parts of the abdomen (p=0,013), not feeling refreshed after a night sleep (p=0,042), tiredness (p=0,047) constipation (p=0,028), tenderness in the skin (p=0,008) and edema between the normal body weight women and obese women. The mean score for Self-care Scale was 114,25±15,23 in the normal body weight women and 110,15±15,19 in the obese women. The normal body weight women who were aged 20-29 years (p=0,025), whose spouses had secondary school education or higher education levels (p=0,031), whose place of living was a town or a city (p=0,001), whose duration of marriage was 121-252 months (10-21 years) (p=0,013) and who had a paid job (p=0,009) had significantly higher scores for Self-care Scale than the obese women. The normal body weight women not having muscle cramps (p=0,044), constipation (p=0,009), hemorrhoid (p=0,012), mood changes (p=0,020), nervousness and restlessness (p=0,028) and ear pain (p=0,044) had significantly higher scores for Self-care Scale than the obese women. It can be concluded that maternal obesity affects pregnancy related complaints. A comparison of pregnancy related symptoms with scores for the power of self-care showed that the symptoms have an impact on the power of self-care. It can be expected that women with pregnancy related complaints have lower scores for the power of self-care. Keywords: Maternal obesity,pregnancy, pregnancy related complaints, self-care, midwifery, midwifery care.