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Physical Activity Prior to and During Pregnancy and Risk of Postpartum Depressive Symptoms

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1552-6909.2009.01050.xGet rights and content

ABSTRACT

Objective

To examine the relationship between physical activity before and during the last trimester of pregnancy and postpartum depressive symptoms.

Design

Secondary analysis of data from the 2004 and 2005 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.

Settings

Mailed questionnaire or telephone interview of new mothers in North Carolina.

Patients/Participants

Female residents of North Carolina, ages 18 to 45 (n=2,169), who had given birth to a live infant in the past 2 to 6 months.

Methods

Information on physical activity and depressive symptoms was self-reported. Logistic regression was used to examine the physical activity-depressive symptom associations while controlling for confounding variables.

Results

After adjustment for confounders, there were no statistically significant associations between being physically active before and/or during pregnancy and feeling depressed or “down.” However, participants who were physically active both prepregnancy and during the last trimester had decreased odds of having little interest or pleasure compared with participants who were not physically active, after adjustment for age and marital status (odds ratio =0.66, 95% confidence interval: 0.49, 0.87).

Conclusion

Although regular physical activity is recommended for healthy women during pregnancy, additional studies are needed to investigate the physical activity-depressive symptoms association. If confirmed in other studies, physical activity may be an additional option for women who want to ease postpartum depressive symptoms.

Section snippets

Study Design and Population

The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is an annual, state-specific, population-based surveillance system conducted by the CDC and state health departments that collects information from women 2 to 6 months after they have delivered a live-born infant (Williams et al., 2006). Women who are selected to participate in PRAMS are asked to recall their attitudes and experiences before, during, and shortly after pregnancy (CDC, 2008; Williams et al.). There are 37 states that

Results

Among the 2,169 participants, approximately half (52.8%) were 25 to 34 years old and had more than a high school diploma (54.8%; Table 1). Just over two thirds (64.4%) were non-Hispanic White and 66.0% were married. More than half (59.6%) reported being physically active prepregnancy, while only 44.6% reported being physically active during the third trimester. Less than half of the participants reported feeling depressed or “down” (40.9%) or having little interest or pleasure (36.2%) in the

Discussion

In this large, population-based study, physical activity levels decreased from prepregnancy to the third trimester, and this finding is consistent with other studies that examined physical activity levels before and during pregnancy (Da Costa et al., 2003, Schmidt et al., 2006, Zhang and Savitz 1996). In the study by Da Costa et al., participating women's physical activity levels decreased from 40% before pregnancy to 29% in the first and second trimesters. The same pattern was observed by

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Fatma Simsek, North Carolina PRAMS Project Coordinator, Dr. Kenneth Huber, Wake Forest University, and Dr. Gwen Foss, University of North Carolina, Charlotte.

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