OBJECTIVES. Guidelines from the Institute of Medicine's 1990 report call for weight gains during pregnancy that are higher than those previously recommended. This study examines the potential implications of compliance with these guidelines for postpartum weight retention. METHODS. Weight retention 10 to 18 months following delivery was examined for selected women who had live births in the 1988 National Maternal and Infant Health Survey. Women's actual weight gains during pregnancy were retrospectively classified according to the Institute of Medicine's guidelines. RESULTS. Weight retention following delivery increased as weight gain increased, and Black women retained more weight than White women with comparable weight gain. The median retained weight for White women who gained the amount now being recommended was 1.6 lb whereas that for Black women was 7.2 lb. CONCLUSIONS. If pregnant White women gain weight according to the institute's guidelines, they need not be concerned about retaining a substantial amount of weight postpartum. Our findings suggest, however, that Black women are in need of advice about how to lose weight following delivery.

A Summary Measure of Health Disparity SYNOPSISObjectives. Eliminating health disparities is a goal of Healthy People 2010. In order to track progress toward this goal, we need improved methods for measuring disparity. The authors present the Index of Disparity (ID) as a summary measure of disparity.Methods. The ID, a modified coefficient of variation, was used to measure disparity across populations defined on the basis of race/ethnicity, income, education, and gender. Disparity was also assessed for a diverse range of health indicators and over time to monitor trends.

A consistent framework has been developed for measuring health disparities and making comparisons across indicators with regard to the public health goals of Healthy People 2010. Disparities are measured as the percent difference from the best group rate, with all indicators being expressed in terms of adverse events. The 10 largest health disparities for each of five US racial and ethnic groups are identified here. There are both similarities and differences in the largest health disparities. New cases of tuberculosis and drug-induced death rates are among the largest health disparities for four of the five racial and ethnic groups. However, drug-induced death is the only indicator among the 10 largest disparities that is shared by both Black and White non-Hispanic populations.

Background-Healthy People 2010 (HP2010) objectives are based on two overarching goals: 1) to increase years and quality of healthy life, and 2) to eliminate disparities among subgroups of the population. Four hundred and sixty-seven specific objectives consistent with these goals were outlined, baseline data were identified when available, and specific targets were set for the year 2010. This report discusses the tech niques that are being used to measure progress toward these two goals. Process-In order to promote consistency in monitoring across different objectives, a minimum template of subgroups was adopted for the population-based objectives in HP2010. A workgroup of individuals representing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agencies involved in HP2010 was convened to consider the issues related to monitoring progress toward the two goals of HP2010. The workgroup concurred with the recommendations in this report. Recommendations-Progress toward target attainment can be monitored for all objectives with at least one data point beyond the baseline. For those objectives that are based on data for a population, progress toward target attainment can also be measured for subgroups of the population. Progress toward the elimination of disparity for individual population subgroups can be measured in terms of the percent difference between each subgroup rate and the most favorable or ''best'' subgroup rate in each domain. For purposes of measuring disparity relative to the ''best'' subgroup rate, all measures are expressed in terms of adverse events.