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Changes in Leisure Time Physical Activity During Pregnancy Compared to the Prior Year

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Abstract

To quantify changes in leisure time physical activity (LTPA) type, frequency, duration and intensity during the first half of pregnancy as compared with the year prior to pregnancy. A cross sectional study was conducted at the Maternal University Hospital in Granada, Spain. A total of 1,175 healthy pregnant women attending a scheduled visit during the 20–22nd gestational week were enrolled in the study. Information about socio-demographic, obstetric and life-style variables during the previous year and the first half of pregnancy were collected. LTPA was quantified by assigning metabolic equivalents to each activity according to frequency, intensity and duration. The prevalence of women who met the optimal physical activity recommendations before and during pregnancy was calculated, and the McNemar-Bowker symmetry test was used to assess changes in type, frequency, intensity and duration of activities between the two periods. Some sort of LTPA was performed before and during pregnancy by 68.6 % of the pregnant women. Respectively, just 27.5 % and 19.4 % of women fulfilled LTPA recommendations prior to pregnancy and during pregnancy; 12.6 % of the women meeting recommendations prior to pregnancy later did not meet those recommendations during gestation, and 4.5 % showed the reverse trend. A light increase in walking as a LTPA, and a decrease in the rest of the LTPA type activities, were seen during pregnancy. Some 13.4 % of women changed from moderate—the year before- to light LTPA- during pregnancy. Pregnancy involved a decrease in LTPA, not only regarding frequency, but also duration and intensity.

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Abbreviations

ACOG:

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

CDC/ACSM:

Centers for Disease Control/American College of Sport and Medicine

BMI:

Body Mass Index

LTPA:

Leisure time physical activity

MET:

Metabolic equivalent of task

RCOG:

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

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Acknowledgments

This work has been financed thanks to the Ministry of Health project FIS PI03/1207 and to the Junta de Andalucia excellence project 2005 CTS 942, as well as the Biomedical Research Centre Network for Epidemiology and Public Health (Ciberesp).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Granada, Avenida de Madrid, 11, 18071, Granada, Spain

    Carmen Amezcua-Prieto, Rocío Olmedo-Requena, Eladio Jímenez-Mejías, Pablo Lardelli-Claret & José J. Jiménez-Moleón

  2. Biomedical Research Centre Network for Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Granada, Spain

    Eladio Jímenez-Mejías, Pablo Lardelli-Claret & José J. Jiménez-Moleón

  3. Obstetrics and Gynecology Service, Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital, Granada, Spain

    Francisca Hurtado-Sánchez & Juan Mozas-Moreno

Authors
  1. Carmen Amezcua-Prieto
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  2. Rocío Olmedo-Requena
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  3. Eladio Jímenez-Mejías
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  6. Pablo Lardelli-Claret
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  7. José J. Jiménez-Moleón
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Correspondence to Carmen Amezcua-Prieto.

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Amezcua-Prieto, C., Olmedo-Requena, R., Jímenez-Mejías, E. et al. Changes in Leisure Time Physical Activity During Pregnancy Compared to the Prior Year. Matern Child Health J 17, 632–638 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-012-1038-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-012-1038-3

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