Physical activity, health-related quality of life and depression during pregnancy

Abstract

This study examines physical activity patterns among women, from pre-pregnancy

Mental health and physical inactivity during pregnancy: a cross-sectional study nested in the BRISA cohort study

“…As mentioned above, it is possible that the majority of time spent on physical activity reported by this sample consists of housework and manual occupational activities. Time spent on work-related activities throughout pregnancy remained stable in comparison to the pre-pregnancy pattern 9 . The practice of leisure-time physical activity, which is more likely to decrease during pregnancy 7,9 , is more common in populations with higher levels of education and socioeconomic status 6 .…”

“…Two previous studies that used similar instruments to measure physical activity (long version of the IPAQ) among women in the same gestational trimester reported rates of 64.5% 9 and 87.5% 8 . It must be emphasized, however, that these studies used different cutoff points (at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week) 8,9 . A populationbased study carried out by Evenson et al 6 using an instrument that classified level of physical activity based on metabolic equivalents, reported that 84.2% of pregnant women were physically inactive.…”

“…Level of physical activity was assessed using the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) validated for use with the Brazilian population by Matsudo et al 49 and previously tested with samples of pregnant women 8,9 . We evaluated energy expenditure in metabolic equivalents (MET) for three specific types of activities: walking, moderate-intensity physical activities and vigorous-intensity physical activities 50 .…”

“…Despite current recommendations and reported benefits for mother and child, physical activity, especially sports and exercise, decreases during pregnancy 5 . The rate of physical inactivity during pregnancy is high, ranging from 64.5% to 91.5% 6,7,8,9,10,11 , and tends to be lower in the third trimester of pregnancy 12,13 . In addition, physical inactivity during pregnancy is associated with an increased probability of admission of infants to neonatal intensive care units, preterm delivery 14 , low birth weight, intrauterine growth restriction 15 , cesarean sections and stillbirths 11 .…”

“…Tendais et al 9 found that symptoms of depression were stable during pregnancy, but psychological well-being decreased among pregnant women that were inactive during the first trimester of pregnancy. Poorer mental health status associated with pregnancy may be a contributing factor to reduced activity as physical effort becomes less attractive and more difficult 19 .…”