DOI: 10.3886/e193505v1
title: Life-course Experiences And Pregnancy

description: The Life-course Experiences And Pregnancy (LEAP) study is a retrospective cohort study of reproductive and perinatal health among 977 women participating since adolescence in an ongoing longitudinal study of eating, activity, and weight-related health (Project EAT: Eating and Activity over Time). For Project EAT, male and female adolescents aged 11-18 were recruited during the 1998-1999 school year from 31 public middle and high schools in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota. Participants were subsequently surveyed every 5 years, with the most recent Project EAT survey completed in 2014-2015 when participants were aged 25-36. Project EAT surveys have collected data on a wide range of measures including depressive symptoms, unhealthy weight control behaviors, binge eating, home food availability, physical activity, and body weight. In 2019, participants in Project EAT who identified as women were recruited to complete the LEAP survey if they had responded to at least two of the three most recent Project EAT surveys and resided in the United States. The LEAP survey asked participants about their reproductive histories, including whether they had ever attempted to get pregnant, whether they had been pregnant, and how many of their pregnancies resulted in a live birth. Women who reported having at least one live birth were asked, for each birth reported: their age when they gave birth; the gestation length of the pregnancy; any diagnosed pregnancy complications; and their best estimates of what they weighed just before the pregnancy and how much weight they gained during the pregnancy. In addition, for their first live birth only, women were asked about a range of psychosocial and behavioral characteristics during the pregnancy, including their perceived ability to live on their income, depressive symptoms, binge eating, and unhealthy weight control behaviors, among others. Women who had never been pregnant were asked if they had ever attempted to get pregnant and, if so, if they had received a diagnosis of infertility and/or sought fertility treatment. Self-reports of key pregnancy characteristics for each woman’s live births were validated against medical record data in a validation substudy (n=250). All participants who reported at least one live birth on the LEAP survey (n=656) were invited to sign HIPAA Authorization and medical records release forms authorizing the study team to request their prenatal, delivery, and postpartum medical records for each of their pregnancies. Data on pre-pregnancy weight, measured weights at each prenatal visit, delivery weight, gestational age at delivery, and diagnoses of pregnancy complications were abstracted from the data.<br>
description: Response Rates: The response rate to the LEAP survey was 78% among those who had responded to two of the last three Project EAT surveys. <br>For the validation substudy, the response rate to the medical records request was 58%. Records were successfully obtained for 38% of the cohort. <br><br>
description: Presence of Common Scales: Kandel and Davies Depressive Mood Scale<br>
description: The LEAP sample comprises female-identifying individuals participating in an existing longitudinal cohort study. These participants were originally recruited from 31 public middle and high schools in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota.<br><br>
description: This cohort includes people identifying their sex as female who have been participating since the 1998-1999 school year in a longitudinal cohort study of eating, activity, and weight-related health. Participants were originally recruited from 31 public middle and high schools in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota and the majority still reside in Minnesota. <br>.
description: record abstracts; web-based survey;