Physical Activity Patterns and Daily Steps in Pregnant Women According to the Pregnancy Period

Abstract

PURPOSE: to analyze the physical activity (PA) level and the number of daily steps in pregnant women according to their trimester of pregnancy. METHODS: 122 pregnant women aged 17 to 40 years old (25.8±5.6) from 4 to 37 weeks of pregnancy. PA level was determined by the Internacional Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), last week, short form, applied by interview. 57 pregnant women of the sample accepted to wear a pedometer Yamax Digiwalker (SW-200) during 7 days consecutively. They registered the number of steps per day following the protocol proposed by Tudor-Locke et al. (2004). The statistical analysis included Kruskall-Wallis test, with significance level of p<.05. RESULTS: the table shows frequency (FREQ) in days/week, and duration (DUR) in minutes/day of walking, moderate and vigorous PA, and METs (total/week). The 2nd trimester pregnant women presented significant difference in duration of the moderate PA, it was lower (85% to 120%) when compared to pregnant women in the 1 st and 3rd trimester. Non significant difference in number of steps among the trimesters was found. Using the steps to classify their PA level, 50.0% of pregnant women in the 1st trimester were considered active (>10 000) as well as 17.4% of the 2nd, and 28.6% in the 3rd. 42.9% of pregnant women in the 3rd trimester, 30.4% in the 2nd, and 16.7% in the 1st were classified as sedentary (<5000).Table: *p<.05CONCLUSION: the PA level of pregnant women, using IPAQ or pedometer, was similar regardless the trimester of the pregnancy.