Abstract
Some epidemiological studies have shown a protective effect of exercise on risk of adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes, but few studies have examined the potential benefit of specific recreational activities such as swimming during pregnancy. Using 1,854 births enrolled from 2000–2004 in a prospective cohort study across three study sites in the United States, we examined swimming reported during pregnancy in relation to birth weight. We used linear regression to examine the relationship between swimming and mean birth weight. Based on self-reported data collected at 20–24 weeks of gestation, 12% reported swimming during this time period. Although we saw a large unadjusted increase in mean birth weight (108 grams; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 10, 205) among those swimming more than 1 hour/week relative to nonswimmers, the results (26 grams; 95% CI: −68,120) were attenuated following adjustment for confounding, principally due to maternal race/ethnicity, maternal education and mean household income. Consistent with previous prospective cohort studies from the United Kingdom and Denmark, our data suggest that swimming during pregnancy is at most associated with a small increase in mean birth weight.
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