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Physical Activity and Depression Symptoms among Pregnant Women from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2006

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1552-6909.2012.01340.xGet rights and content

ABSTRACT

Objective

To examine the association between objectively measured physical activity and depression symptoms among a nationally representative sample of pregnant women to provide a more accurate understanding of the relationship between physical activity and depression symptoms.

Design

We employed a cross‐sectional study design.

Setting

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2006 were used for this study.

Methods

One‐hundred and forty‐one pregnant women wore an ActiGraph accelerometer for 7 days and completed the Patient Health Questionnaire‐9 to assess depression status.

Results

More than 19% of the participants experienced some depression symptoms, and compared to their counterparts not having depression symptoms, they were less physically active.

Conclusion

An inverse association was found between physical activity and depression symptoms among pregnant women. When feasible, nurses are encouraged to help facilitate physical activity among pregnant women, assuming an uncomplicated pregnancy.

Section snippets

Design and Participants

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005–2006 were used in the analyses. The NHANES employs a representative sample of noninstitutionalized U.S. civilians, selected by a complex, multistage probability design. Briefly, participants were interviewed in their homes and subsequently examined in mobile examination centers (MEC) across numerous U.S. geographic locations. The study was approved by the National Center for Health Statistics ethics review board, with

Results

Descriptive characteristics of the study population are presented in Table 1. Consistent with previous estimates of pregnant women who were screened in obstetric settings (Marcus et al., 2003), 19.15% of the participants (i.e., 27 of 141 participants) were experiencing some depression symptoms. There were no differences in any of the evaluated demographics (i.e., age, height, weight, BMI, race‐ethnicity, smoking status, marital status, and gestation) among those with some depression symptoms

Discussion

The major finding of this study was the inverse association between physical activity and depression symptoms among U.S. pregnant women, as assessed using an objective measure of physical activity. Our findings support previous research findings using self‐report measures of physical activity (Da Costa et al., 2003; Demissie et al., 2011).

For example, Da Costa and colleagues (2003) had 180 pregnant women self‐report their physical activity patterns during each trimester and examined its

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    The authors report no conflict of interest or relevant financial relationships.

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