Physical activity in pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes.

Adriana Sousa Rêgo,Cecília Claúdia Costa Ribeiro,Rosângela Fernandes Lucena Batista,Antonio Augusto Moura Da Silva,Maria Teresa Seabra Soares De Britto E Alves Alves,Marco Antonio Barbieri,Heloísa Bettiol,Flávia Helen Furtado Loureiro,Viviane Cunha Cardoso

doi:10.1590/0102-311x00086915

Adriana Sousa Rêgo, Cecília Claúdia Costa Ribeiro + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-311x00086915

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Abstract

This study focused on the association between physical activity in the second trimester of pregnancy and adverse perinatal outcomes: low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth (PTB), and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). The study used a sample from the BRISA cohort, São Luís, Maranhão State, Brazil, which included women with singleton pregnancy, gestational age from 22 to 25 weeks confirmed by obstetric ultrasound performed at < 20 weeks, and re-interviewed in the first 24 hours postpartum (n = 1,380). Level of physical activity was measured by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), short version, categorized as high, moderate, and low. A directed acyclic graph (DAG) was used to identify minimum adjustment to control confounding. High physical activity was not associated with LBW (RR = 0.94; 95%CI: 0.54-1.63), PTB (RR = 0.86; 95%CI: 0.48-1.54), or IUGR (RR = 0.80; 95%CI: 0.55-1.15). The results support the hypothesis that physical activity during pregnancy does not result in adverse perinatal outcomes.

Highlights

Low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth (PTB), and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are associated with increased short- and long-term risks of morbidity and mortality [1,2]
In the study sample, consisting of 1,380 pregnant women, most were [20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34] years of age (80.1%), had [9,10,11] years of schooling (75.7%), were married or living with a partner (79.5%), were not living with children (57.6%), were primiparous (51.5%), delivered vaginally (49.8%), belonged to middle class C (66,5%) and had a family head engaged in unskilled manual labor or unemployed (72.4%)
Drug use was reported by 1.5%, 22.2% consumed alcohol, 4.3% smoked, 16.8% had hypertension, 3% diabetes, 28% were diagnosed with urinary tract infection, 10.9% reported vaginal bleeding, and 11.9% were hospitalized some time during the pregnancy

Summary

Introduction

Low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth (PTB), and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) are associated with increased short- and long-term risks of morbidity and mortality [1,2]. They increase the risk of delayed neurological and cognitive development as well as non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus) in adulthood [3,4]. There are various risk factors for adverse perinatal outcomes ranging from classical factors such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity 5 to physical activity during pregnancy 6. Vigorous physical activity can result in reduced blood flow to the fetus, with a consequent reduction in essential substrates for its growth, and may result in adverse perinatal outcomes [9,10]

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