https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5957-1137
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Abstract
Objective
Participating in physical activity during pregnancy has benefited a lot from maternal and child health. However, there are few longitudinal studies describing activity patterns and related factors during pregnancy. The aim of this study is to investigate longitudinal physical activity changes and the influencing factors of Chinese pregnant women.
Methods
From January to August 2020, 240 pregnant women were recruited in Hangzhou, China. Physical activity during pregnancy was assessed in the first, second, and third trimesters of pregnancy by using the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire.
Results
The daily energy consumption during first, second, and third trimesters was 20.55, 20.76, 17.19 METs-h/d. The results of repeated-measure analysis of variance and pairwise comparison showed that the total daily energy consumption of physical activity in the third trimester was significantly lower than that in the first and second trimesters, with statistical significance (p < 0.001). The generalized estimation equation showed that education level, pre-pregnancy BMI, gravidity, unnaturally conceived and pre-pregnancy exercise habits were the influencing factors of physical activity during pregnancy (p < 0.05).
Conclusion
Physical activity levels of pregnant women during different trimester were not optimistic. In order to improve physical activity during pregnancy and promote the health status of both mother and the developing baby, more attention should be paid on pregnant women with low education level, high BMI before pregnancy, primipara, unnaturally conceived and no good exercise habits before pregnancy.
Ethics approval and consent to participate
The study protocol was approved by the Women’ hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University Institutional Review Board (approval number: IRB-20200043-R). All participants provided informed consent.
Authors’ contributions
Suwen Feng responsible for the concept and design. Le Zhang and Jinlan Piao analyzed and interpreted the data. Wei Zhang and Ningning Liu participated in designing the study and drafted the initial manuscript. Xuehui Zhang, Yu Shen, Ying Jin, and Fangfnag Wang carried out the data acquisition. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Consent to publication
Not applicable.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Suwen Feng, upon reasonable request. All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.