Objectively measured sedentary time and physical activity levels in Spanish pregnant women. Factors affecting the compliance with physical activity guidelines

ABSTRACT

The aims of this cross-sectional study were to describe objectively measured sedentary time (ST) and physical activity (PA) levels in Spanish pregnant women, to analyze the degree of compliance with PA guidelines during the early second trimester of pregnancy and to explore sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with meeting these PA guidelines. One hundred and thirty-four Caucasian pregnant women were recruited between October 2015 and October 2017 to participate in this study. Triaxial accelerometers were used to analyze ST andPA levels for seven consecutive valid days. Womenspent512 ± 92.1 minutes daily in sedentary behaviors, and 85 ± 108.2 minutes in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in bouts of at least 10 minutes. They walked on average 7436 ± 2410steps per day. Only 22% of the study sample complied with the PA guidelines. Having an University degree was related with threefold higher odds of compliance with the PA guidelines (95% confidence interval: 0.096–0.913, p < .05). Binary logistic regressions showed that being primiparous was associated with fivefold higher odds of compliance with the PA guidelines (95% confidence interval 1.658–18.039, respectively, p < .01). Maternal age, BMI, marital status, working status, and previous miscarriages were not associated with compliance with PA guidelines. Pregnant women spent more than a third of the day in sedentary behaviors and the compliance with PA guidelines was less than desirable. Finally, not having an university degree or having children could be factors related to lower odds of compliance with these guidelines, and therefore require special attention from healthcare professionals.

KEYWORDS:

• Accelerometry
• moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
• pregnancy
• sedentary behavior

Acknowledgments

We thank all the pregnant women who participated in this study (code: GESTAFIT-0448-N-15, approved on 19/05/2015).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

This study was partiallyfunded by the [Regional Ministry of Health of the Junta de Andalucía] under grant[PI-0395- 2016], the [University of Granada, Plan Propio de Investigación 2016, Excellence actions:Units of Excellence; Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES)]and by the [Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades] and [European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)]under grant[SOMM17/6107/UGR]. MBC was supported by the [Spanish Ministry of Education], grant number [FPU14/02518].