Abstract
Background: Maternal leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and sedentary time during pregnancy may influence programming of infant growth in a sex-specific manner.Materials and Methods: Participants (N = 35,212) from the Danish National Birth Cohort reported moderate/vigorous LTPA (hours/week) in early (conception to mean 16 weeks of gestation) and late pregnancy (mean 31 weeks of gestation to delivery) during interviews at 16 weeks of gestation and 6 months postpartum. Participants reported screen time at work and time spent watching television/videos (hours/day) in early pregnancy. Infant weight at 12 months of age was reported by mothers. Weight-for-length was categorized using sex-specific international standards.Results: Participants reported on average 1 hour per week of early pregnancy moderate/vigorous LTPA, 0.5 hour per week of late pregnancy LTPA, and 3 hours per day of early pregnancy sedentary time. Early pregnancy LTPA category was not associated with infant weight (p for trend = 0.62). There were suggested associations of early pregnancy sedentary time above the first quartile with greater odds of infant underweight (odds ratio = 1.15–1.27; p for trend = 0.27). Associations were similar in male and female infants.Conclusions: There is no clear relationship between early or late pregnancy LTPA and infant weight at 12 months in our study. Maternal early pregnancy sedentary time may be associated with infant underweight at 12 months.
Highlights
Growth in infancy is associated with future risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, including coronary heart disease[1] and glucose intolerance[2] over the life course
Maternal early pregnancy sedentary time may be associated with infant underweight at 12 months
The objective of this study was to investigate associations of maternal leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and sedentary time during early and late pregnancy, both critical periods for fetal programming of growth,[17] with infant weight at *12 months, and whether these associations differ by infant sex
Summary
Growth in infancy is associated with future risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, including coronary heart disease[1] and glucose intolerance[2] over the life course. Maternal factors during the perinatal period such as maternal leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and sedentary behavior may have long-term effects on offspring postnatal growth and health directly through epigenetic mechanisms[3,4,5,6] or indirectly through reduction of pregnancy complications[7,8,9] and fetal overgrowth.[10,11,12]. Maternal leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and sedentary time during pregnancy may influence programming of infant growth in a sex-specific manner. Conclusions: There is no clear relationship between early or late pregnancy LTPA and infant weight at 12 months in our study. Maternal early pregnancy sedentary time may be associated with infant underweight at 12 months
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