Physical activity and its associated factors among pregnant women in an urban health clinic in Kuantan, Pahang

Abstract

Co-morbidities such as obesity, gestational diabetes and pregnancy induced hypertension during pregnancy can be dangerous to mother and fetus. Regular physical activity during pregnancy not only maintains maternal and fetal wellbeing, but it also maintains physical fitness and brings various health benefits. However, many women reduced their physical activities during pregnancy. The objective of this study was to measure the prevalence, level and factors contributing to physical activity among pregnant women during pregnancy and identify the barriers that could prevent a pregnant woman from doing physical activities. This was a cross-sectional study involving 168 pregnant women aged 18-35 years between 12-35 weeks of gestation attended a primary health clinic in Kuantan, Pahang. Their socio-demographic characteristics were recorded, and three sets of questionnaires were used; validated Malay version of IPAQ (short-form) for assessing physical activity, DASS -21 Malay version for evaluating psychological symptoms and a pre-tested questionnaire for assessing barriers for physical activity. Chi-square test, Fishers exact test, Independent t-test and multiple logistic regression were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics version 23.0. Significant level was set at p value <0.05. The mean (SD) age was 28.0(3.6) and majority of them were Malay ethnicity from B40 group. Two third (74.4%) had tertiary education and 66.7% were working mothers. More than half (53.0%) of the participants were overweight and obese. Among 168 respondents, 24.4% had moderate level of physical activity, but the majority (76.0%) had low-level physical activity. Likewise, about 78.6% were physically inactive and only 22.0% physically active during pregnancy. For the barriers, we found that 58.0% of the participants had leg cramp, 63.1% felt fatigue, 80.4% had backache and 46.4% had epigastric discomfort. We have not found any significant factors associated with physical activity level. Majority of the pregnant women conducted low level of physical activity and less than quarter of the pregnant women were physically active. Physical barriers such as leg cramp, backache, fatigue and epigastric discomfort could prevent pregnant women from conducting physical activities.