Context: Parity has been implicated in many health consequences for women in later life.
Objective: To determine whether there is an association between parity and body size phenotypes in postmenopausal women.
Design and participants: This study was based on data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted during 2010-2012. Of the 25 534 participants, data from 3347 postmenopausal women were included in the analysis.
Results: In analyses stratified by the metabolically abnormal obese (MAO) and metabolically healthy and normal weight phenotypes, women with parities of 3-4 births or more than or equal to 5 births were significantly associated with the MAO phenotype (odds ratio [OR] 1.396 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.077-1.810] and OR 1.978 [1.392-2.811], respectively) compared with those with a parity of 1-2 births after adjusting for age, sociodemographic factors, lifestyle behaviors, and reproductive factors. A similar significant association of parity with the MAO phenotype was also found when we analyzed the parity number as a continuous variable in a comparison of the MAO and metabolically abnormal but normal weight phenotypes (OR 1.116 [1.012-1.232]). In grouping of the MAO and metabolically healthy but obese phenotypes, women who had experienced a parity of 3-4 births or more than or equal to 5 births were significantly associated with the MAO phenotype (OR 1.459 [1.025-2.076] and OR 1.989 [1.211-3.265], respectively) after adjustment for the above covariates.
Conclusions: Parity influenced the body size phenotype in postmenopausal women, and higher parity was independently associated with a higher risk of the MAO phenotype in postmenopausal women.