Sitting less, moving more reduce risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes

Pregnant women who minimize sedentary duration by engaging in light-intensity movement and increasing step count appear to have a reduced risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, according to a study.

The study included 470 pregnant participants at <13 weeks of gestation at university-affiliated medical centres in Iowa, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia in the US. The mean age of the participants was 30.7 years, and 38.3 percent were of high socioeconomic status.

Sedentary behaviour, light-intensity physical activity (LPA), and daily steps were evaluated each trimester using a thigh-worn accelerometer. Adverse pregnancy outcomes included hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, preterm birth, and infants who were small for gestational age.

Adverse pregnancy outcomes occurred in 174 participants (37 percent), of which 86 (18.3 percent) had hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Across trimesters, participants spent a mean of 10.1 h/day sedentary, with 4.6 h/day of LPA and 6,783 daily steps.

The risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes was higher among participants with high and very high sedentary behaviour patterns than among those with low sedentary behaviour pattern (absolute risk, 42.3 percent and 41.6 percent, respectively, vs 19 percent). A lower risk was observed among participants with very high vs low LPA pattern (absolute risk, 21.1 percent vs 40.3 percent).

With regard to daily steps, the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes was reduced among participants with moderate and high daily steps than among those with low daily steps (absolute risk, 36.2 percent and 32.2 percent, respectively, vs 47.7 percent).

Similar associations were observed between hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and sedentary behaviour and LPA patterns.