Association between physical activity during pregnancy and low mood in the third trimester of pregnancy

Abstract

Purpose

To explore the association between physical activity (PA) and low mood during pregnancy.

Methods

Secondary analyses were conducted on data from a quasi-experimental study of 58 healthy primigravida women without PA limitations. PA was measured using an accelerometer (Polar Loop 2, Polar Electro Oy) at T1 (5 months), T2 (7 months), and T3 (9 months). The indicators of PA were cumulative time spent at each PA intensity level (sedentary behavior [SB], light PA, and moderate-to-vigorous PA [MVPA]) time in minutes/day, and the cumulative time by the duration of PA (minutes/day). Based on the data acquired from the low mood frequency and symptoms through a questionnaire in the T3 interval, women with a high frequency and severe symptoms were considered as having low mood.

Results

Eleven women (18.9%) with low mood had significantly shorter wake period (p=0.002), cumulative SB time < 30 min (p=0.020), cumulative MVPA time (p=0.035), and cumulative MVPA time < 10 min (p=0.018) than women without a low mood. In the receiver-operating characteristic analysis for the low-mood group, the area under the curve values for cumulative MVPA time < 10 min at T1 and cumulative SB time < 30 min at T3 were 0.723 (95% CI: 0.555–0.892, p=0.022) and 0.724 (95% CI: 0.565–0.883, p=0.029), respectively; the cut-off values were 19.43 min (sensitivity 0.702, specificity 0.818) and 258.05 min (sensitivity 0.786, specificity 0.500), respectively.

Conclusion

Cumulative MVPA time < 10 min and cumulative SB time < 30 min were predictors of low mood in the third trimester of pregnancy. Moreover, frequent PA and less time spent in SB may improve the mental health during pregnancy.