SOMANZ Poster Presentation Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society and Society of Obstetric Medicine Australia and New Zealand Joint Scientific Meeting 2025

Women's Perceptions of Lifestyle Interventions After Hypertensive Pregnancy: Longitudinal Findings from the BP2 Study (#172)

Yining Chen 1 2 3 , Megan Gow 1 4 , Katie Harris 1 , Lynne Roberts 3 5 , Amanda Henry 1 3 5
  1. The George Institute for Global Health, UNSW Medicine and Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. School of Medicine, Tsinghua Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
  3. School of Clinical Medicine, UNSW Medicine and Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. School of Population Health, UNSW Medicine and Health, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  5. Department of Women’s and Children's Health, St George Hospital, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Objectives

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk following hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) may be mitigated by lifestyle interventions. Studies generally focus on intervention strategies, however, women’s perceptions regarding barriers and motivators to adhere to such lifestyle interventions and satisfaction with their appearance and food choices remain poorly understood. Thus, we examined these perceptions longitudinally, before and after BP2 lifestyle interventions.

Methods

Post-HDP participants in our 3-armed, multi-centre BP2 RCT of follow-up/lifestyle behaviour change strategies 6-12 months postpartum rated several healthy lifestyle statements at 6-months (pre-intervention), 12-months (end-intervention), and 3-years (post-intervention) postpartum. Responses ranging from “not at all” to “extremely” were analysed as an ordinal scale. Categories (motivators, barriers, and satisfaction) were analysed longitudinally using mixed effects models.

Results

The 244 participants had high self-rated motivation to live healthy pre-intervention, which slightly decreased over time (score 21.6±2.8, 6-months vs. 20.6±2.9 12-months vs. 20.4±3.1 3-years, p<0.001). General barriers to living healthy were low pre-intervention and moderately increased following intervention (score 21.0±6.1 vs. 22.7±6.6 vs. 22.8±6.7, p<0.001). CVD risk reduction remained the most important motivator, while the biggest challenge shifted from food cravings to time constraints. Women reported lower satisfaction on several lifestyle factors from 6-12 months to 3 years (p<0.0001), with weight replacing appearance as the strongest dissatisfaction factor.

Conclusions

Neither healthy lifestyle motivation nor body/lifestyle satisfaction improved after study participation. Women post-HDP have substantial challenges to maintain healthy lifestyles. Further research is required to explore the optimal strategies and follow-up frequency, including consideration of women’s perceptions regarding healthy lifestyle maintenance.