| |
Doctoral
Thesis: Diet quality in young australian
women according to pregnancy status
Supervisors: Dr
Clare Collins (School of Health Sciences, University
of Newcastle), Dr Anne Young (ALSWH,
University of Newcastle) and Professor Roger Smith (Mothers
and Babies Research Centre, University of Newcastle)
University: School
of Health Sciences, University of Newcastle.
Objective:
To compare the diet quality of young Australian women
according to pregnancy status, defined as: (i) Pregnant
& <12mo infant; (ii) Pregnant; (iii) Trying to
conceive & <12mo infant; (iv) Trying to conceive;
(v) <12mo infant (vi) Other.
Study design/setting:
The ALSWH data collected during Survey 3 (March 2003)
for the ‘Young’ cohort (aged 25-30yrs) has
been included in this analysis. Of particular interest
is the dietary intake data which were assessed through
the inclusion of the Cancer Council of Victoria’s
Dietary Questionnaire for Epidemiological Studies (DQES)
Version 2. A diet quality score reflecting adherence
to national dietary recommendations was generated, according
to the methodology employed for the Australian Recommended
Food Score (ARFS). This measure of diet quality was
compared according to pregnancy status. An investigation
into the component food group scores for the ARFS was
undertaken to detect where, if any, specific dietary
differences between pregnancy groups exist.
Results: Pregnancy
status was predictive of diet quality (p=0.003) even
after adjusting for education, area of residence, and
marital status. Women who were pregnant, or had given
birth in the previous 12 months had higher mean ARFS
than those who were not pregnant, not trying, and had
not recently given birth. However these findings were
only statistically significant because of the large
sample size. The absolute differences in mean ARFS were
very small. No single food group accounted for the small
variation in diet quality that did exist between pregnancy
groups.
To contact Alexis:
Alexis
Hure
School of Health Sciences
University of Newcastle
University Drive
Callaghan NSW 2308
email:
Alexis.hure@newcastle.edu.au
|