Describing 24-hour movement behaviours among preconception and recently pregnant Canadian parents: who do we need to target?

Abstract

This study aimed to describe adherence to 24-hour movement guidelines and determine factors associated with meeting guidelines in pregnancy planning and recently postpartum parents. A survey of preconception care attitudes and beliefs was conducted in Canadian adults who were pregnancy planning or ≤5 years postpartum. The Global Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to evaluate physical activity and sedentary time. Respondents reported the number of hours spent sleeping and using a screen per day. Multiple logistic regressions were run to determine factors (sociodemographic and health related) associated with meeting each individual movement guideline and number of guidelines met. 1080 females and 224 males provided survey data. 54.0% (n = 654) of the sample met the physical activity guideline, with no difference between females and males. More than 78.4% (n = 909) met the sedentary behavior guideline, 56.4% (n = 679) met the sleep guideline, and 15.4% (n = 187) met the screen time guideline. Only 5.0% (n = 60) of the sample met all four guidelines. Higher odds of meeting more guidelines were associated with parity and perceived health. Lower odds of meeting more guidelines were associated with obesity and overweight; and with depression. Most parents and parents-to-be are not meeting 24-hour movement guidelines. Interventions should focus on optimizing movement behaviors in the peri-partum period, while focusing on mental health, obesity, and general wellbeing.

Keywords:

• Physical activity
• postpartum
• preconception
• screen time

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests

Authors’ contributions

CD, SW, AP, and SB wrote the first draft of the manuscript; CD, CB, RB, and FM participated in research design and data collection. SB, CD, AP, SW, and MST contributed to data analysis and interpretation. All authors contributed to reviewing the manuscript and the decision to submit for publication.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative grant (grant # HLC-154502). The sponsor had no role in the study design; collection, analysis, or interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript, or decision to submit the proposal for publication.