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Table 1 Characteristics of included primiparous women at 6–8 months postpartum. N = 460

From: Primiparous women’s knowledge of diastasis recti abdominis, concerns about abdominal appearance, treatments, and perceived abdominal muscle strength 6–8 months postpartum. A cross sectional comparison study

Variable

 

Age, years

30.4 (3.6)

Education level

 

University

High school/college

Elementary school

Other

400 (87.0)

56 (12.2)

3 (0.7)

1 (0.2)

BMI, kg/m2 a

24.5 (4.3)

Weight gain in pregnancy, kgb

16.2 (9.8)

Weight pre-pregnancy, kgc

67.7 (12.3)

Single pregnancy

Twin pregnancy

455 (98.9)

5 (1.1)

Time since birth

 

6 months

7 months

8 months

203 (44.1)

150 (32.6)

107 (23.3)

Mode of delivery

 

Vaginal

Cesarean

378 (82.2)

82 (17.8)

Week of delivery

 

Between week 26 and 30

Between week 31 and 36

Week 37 or later

3 (0.6)

38 (8.3)

419 (91.1)

Child`s birth weight, gram

 

˃ 4500

4000–4500

3000–3999

2500–2999

1500–2499

1000–1499

10 (2.2)

61 (13.3)

326 (70.9)

49 (10.7)

13 (2.8)

1 (0.2)

Child`s birth length, cmd

50.2 (2.9)

Current use of contraceptives

 

Yes

No

182 (39.6)

278 (60.4)

Current breastfeeding

 

˃ 3 times or more/day

1–2 times/day

4–6 times/week

1–3 times/week

Rarely/never

352 (76.5)

21 (4.6)

1 (0.2)

3 (0.7)

83 (18.0)

Back to work postpartum

 

Yes

No

54 (11.7)

406 (88.3)

Heavy lifting at worke

 

Perform heavy lifting

Rarely/never perform heavy lifting

18 (33.3)

36 (66.7)

Physical activity, n/weekf

 

Never

< 1/week

1/week

2/week

3–4/week

≥ 5/week

15 (3.4)

46 (10.3)

67 (15.0)

110 (24.6)

151 (33.8)

58 (13.0)

Physical activity, min/weekf

147 (SD 132.3)

< 149 min/week

≥ 150 min/week

259 (57.9)

188 (42.1)

Self-reported healthg

 

Very good

Good

Neither good nor bad

Bad

Very bad

109 (23.7)

248 (54.0)

80 (17.4)

21 (4.6)

1 (0.2)

Smoking

 

Yes, every day

Yes, rarely

No

2 (0.4)

3 (0.7)

455 (98.9)

Menstruating

 

Yes

No

Unknown

195 (42.4)

211 (45.9)

54 (11.5)

  1. The table shows means with standard deviation (SD) or numbers with percentages (%)
  2. aTotal n = 432; 28 women did not want to answer the question about current weight in the questionnaire
  3. bTotal n = 451; 9 women did not want to answer the question about weight gain in the questionnaire
  4. cTotal n = 439; 21 women did not want to answer the question about weight gain in the questionnaire
  5. dTotal n = 455; 5 women did not enter child length in the questionnaire due to breech birth
  6. eTotal n = 54 women responded yes to be back to work postpartum
  7. fTotal n = 447; 13 women did not answer this question (valid percent reported)
  8. gTotal n = 459; 1 woman did not answer this question (valid percent reported)