Table 1

Background characteristics of the participants, means (SD) or numbers (%)


Intervention group
(n = 48)
Control group
(n = 37)
p-value

Age at 2 months postpartum (y)
29.5 (3.9)
28.3 (4.4)
0.21
Education level, n (%)


0.46
     basic or secondary education
23 (48)
17 (46)

     polytechnic education
8 (17)
10 (27)

     University education
17 (35)
10 (27)

Smoking status1, n (%)


0.22
     Non-smoker before and after pregnancy
30 (68)
20 (57)

     Smoker before pregnancy and non-smoker after pregnancy
5 (11)
2 (6)

     Smoker before and after pregnancy
9 (21)
13 (37)

Pre-pregnancy BMI (kg/m2)
22.7 (3.7)
22.1 (2.3)
0.36
Total gestational weight gain (kg)
16.2 (5.0)
15.3 (5.0)
0.41
Gestational weight gain, n (%)


0.78
     Below recommendations37
9 (19)
9 (24)

     Within recommendations
13 (28)
11 (30)

     Exceeding recommendations
25 (53)
17 (46)

Body weight at 2 months postpartum (kg)
67.1 (11.1)
64.7 (7.8)
0.26
Weight retention at 2 months postpartum compared to pre-pregnancy weight (kg)
4.3 (4.0)
4.2 (3.9)
0.91
BMI at 2 months postpartum (kg/m2)
24.3 (3.8)
23.6 (2.5)
0.30
by BMI groups, n (%)


0.25
     18.5–24.9 kg/m2
30 (63)
27 (73)

     25.0–29.9 kg/m2
15 (31)
10 (27)

     ≥ 30.0 kg/m2
3 (6)
0 (0)

Waist circumference at 2 months postpartum (cm)
81.8 (9.0)
81.1 (6.7)
0.66

1 Smokers include both daily and occasional smokers. Smoking status was assessed for the periods of 0–6 months before pregnancy and 4–10 months postpartum

Kinnunen et al. Nutrition Journal 2007 6:21   doi:10.1186/1475-2891-6-21