Changes in body composition and energy metabolism in women normotensive in pregnancy compared to those with hypertensive in pregnancy, at 6 months postpartum
Amanda Yao^1,2,3, Melissa Ojurovic^2,3, Lynne Roberts^1,4, Amanda Henry^1,3, Greg Davis^1,3, Anthony J O’Sullivan^2,3
1Department of Women and Children’s Health, St George Hospital, Kogarah, NSW, Australia
²Department of Endocrinology and Medicine, St George Hospital, Kogarah, NSW, Australia
³UNSW Medicine, UNSW, Sydney, NS, Australia
⁴Faculty of Health, UTS, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Aims: To determine the differences in body composition (BC) and energy metabolism between women normotensive in pregnancy (NP) compared to those hypertensive in pregnancy (HP), at 6 months postpartum. It is hypothesised that women HP will have higher percentage body fat (BF%), with no difference in energy metabolism i.e. in total energy expenditure (TEE) and energy intake (EI).

Methods: A cross-sectional study of healthy women 6 months postpartum at St George Hospital, recruiting women NP (n=29) and HP (n=20) over 2 years to the P4 study (2012-ongoing). Multi-frequency bioimpedance analysis measured BF%. A Sensewear Armband measured TEE over 24 hours. The Foodworks program analysed the 3-day food diary given to measure EI.

Results: From the table below, BF% is significantly higher for women HP compared to those NP, at 6 months postpartum. The difference in BMI in both groups is not significant, with no difference in TEE or EI.

Conclusions: Despite no differences found in TEE or EI between women NP and HP, it appears that those HP had higher BF%. This suggests that it may take women HP longer to recover from the increased body fat gained in pregnancy¹. These results of women NP and HP at 6 months postpartum will be compared again at 2 years postpartum.

 1.Møller, U., et al., Changes in bone mineral density and body composition during pregnancy and postpartum. A controlled cohort study. Osteoporosis International, 2012. 23(4): p. 1213-1223.