12.10.02
Patented is an absorbent article comprising a topsheet and a backsheet surrounding an absorbent core. The article’s main body contains a discrete front and rear waist portion with a top and a bottom edge. The front and rear waist portions and the crotch portion have side edge portions and a pair of leakage protective members disposed on the main body that interconnect the front and rear waist portion. The leakage protective members are attached to the respective side edge portions of the front and rear waist portions and the crotch portion over their entire length to form an annularly continuous waist opening. Each leakage protective member comprises an elastic composite sheet material and upper and lower zones, which are defined by an opening formed at a predetermined position between upper and lower edges. The opening of each leakage protective member provides a leg hole opening so that the upper zone is contactable with the wearer’s waist and the lower zone is contactable with an inner side of the wearer’s leg.