Question 3
One limitation of this study includes relying on self-reported pregravid weight status from participants; a figure that researchers used to determine whether weight gain during pregnancy was excessive or WNL. Is there a more accurate, yet realistic, method for gathering this information considering the large sample size? Why or why not?
posted by Sarah Gervais @ 1:37 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
While the sample size is rather large, it may have been possible to obtain pregravid weight status's from previous medical records of patient history by contacting their PCP. Another way this could have been possible would to have selected participants that were planning to get pregnant within the next five years and tracking their weight status that way. However, this could result in some bias since the participants would have known about the study prior to becoming pregnant. I do not doubt that some of the participants wrongly reported their pregravid weight status, but the results of this research were consistent with previous studies so it was still a significant predictor of weight status with food insecure individuals.
Considering the large sample size, I feel as though the self-reported method is appropriate. Contacting the subjects and retrieving their weights at an appointment or checking their medical records would take a lot of time and there may be many more barriers to retrieving the information through these methods. For example, the location or availability of the participants may pose issues for investigators to weigh them. Self-reporting seems to be the most feasible method to obtain the pregravid weight status with this sample size. As melanie said, the results of this study were consisten with previous research.
I don’t think there is another way to determine weight gain during pregnancy while accommodating for the large sample size. If a question were to be worded in a different manner than “what was your pre-pregnancy weight?” such as “how much weight have you gained since you’ve been pregnant?” and then compare that to their current weight, it could possibly yield different responses. All in all, I do not believe there would be a different way to assess someone’s pre-pregnancy weight without having objective data from medical records.
Taking into account the large sample size, I don’t think there is a better way to assess weight gain during pregnancy. Other options could be using medical records or actually weighing the participants. Both of these alternatives are not very realistic as they would be difficult to do and very time consuming. For this type of study, I think self-reported weight status is the best option.
I think Liz’s idea is good. Having the participants report their weight gained during pregnancy and their current weight instead of how much they weighted before pregnancy, may lead to more accurate answers. But like Melanie said, the results of this study were consistent with previous studies, so this method of data collection is appropriate.
I agree with Liz. That may be another way of assessing weight gain and taking into account all other factors these women experience during pregnancy such as stress, time constraint, the need for convenience and many other factors. This may be a good way to track their habits and weight changes during pregnancy.
Considering the large sample size, self-reported is probably the most cost effective way to obtain pre-pregnancy weights. While obtaining previous medical records may result in a more accurate picture of these weights, there may be barriers to doing so.
I agree with Liz, rewording the questions may have yielded more accurate results but given that this study was consistent with other studies, this method was suitable.
I do think this was the most appropriate method of obtaining pregravid weight information. I do think it would be important to include a question concerning how confident these women were that they knew their pregravid weight within +/- 5 lbs. The trouble with trying to obtain previous medical records for these women for weight status is the lack of health insurance for many low SES women, which may lead to a subsequent lack of consistent medical checkups/care. I think, in this case, self-reported weight is the best bet.
~Anna
I am going to have to agree with everyone that said there is no better way with this size population to determine weight status and weight gain without being overly time consuming. However, I think that in order to get a more accurate result, this exact same study should be done a smaller sample size in a specific community where the participant can be weighed and continuously weighed through the pregnancy. The results of this study could then help support the research discussed in this article.
The larger sample size definitely inhibits the methods of gathering this information. If possible, actually weighing participants would be much more reliable than relying on self-reported numbers. Gathering this data through self-reports from the participants adds a whole other variable and skews the validity of any conclusions drawn.
Melanie had a good idea when considering obtaining the weights from previous medical records. This may turn out to be costly and time consuming, but it would definitely be more reliable that self-reports, and a strategy I did not think of!
I cannot think of any more accurate way of gathering this information. I mean, it would be difficult to acquire past medical records for each participant to see what their previous weight was and even if they did that, the weight listed may not have been consistent with what they weighed right before becoming pregnant. I feel like using their self-reported pregravid weights is the easiest method with the larger sample size, though it probably was not incredibly accurate.
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