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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Physical Activity in the Prevention and Management of Disease
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1265929

Relationship between physical activity during pregnancy and maternal health outcomes: evidence from MAASTHI cohort study in Bengaluru, India

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Indian institute of Public Health, Public Health Foundation of India, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
  • 2 Institute of Care and Public Health Research, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands, Netherlands
  • 3 Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background Sedentary behavior is one of the major modifiable behavioral risk factors for Non-Communicable Diseases. Physical Activity (PA) is crucial during pregnancy, but pregnant women may become sedentary, leading to adverse health outcomes. Our study aimed to explore the association of social support with PA levels during pregnancy and the relationship of sedentary behavior with adverse pregnancy health outcomes including delivery. Methods The study used a validated physical activity questionnaire to assess the physical activity levels of pregnant women. We collected detailed socio-demographic information and pregnancy characteristics and evaluated the study outcomes such as the presence of depressive symptoms and social support. We conducted oral glucose tolerance test, hemoglobin, blood pressure assessments, anthropometric measurements, and collected delivery details. We used linear logistic regression to assess the association between continuous measure of physical activity level and maternal outcomes and performed multivariable logistic regression analysis to understand the association of sedentary behavior with maternal health outcomes and mode of delivery after adjusting for the potential confounders. Results We interviewed 2424 eligible pregnant women at the baseline and 1317 were considered in the final analysis after excluding the missed follow-ups. We observed that one unit increase in physical activity level was associated with reduced prenatal depressive symptoms (β = −6.36, p < 0.001), fasting and postprandial blood sugar levels (β = −2.06, p = 0.04 and β = −0.99, p = 0.01) respectively. Pregnant women who had good social support tend to engage in improved level of activity. Additionally, women who engage in sedentary behavior during pregnancy had 1.07 times higher odds of being obese and 4.32 times higher odds of having elective cesarean section delivery than those with moderate activity. Conclusion The study found that physical activity during pregnancy has several beneficial effects on maternal prenatal health outcomes, including reduced risk of obesity, C-section delivery, lower blood glucose levels, and improved mental health. Therefore, it is essential to adhere to the recommended guidelines of physical activity during pregnancy. Healthcare providers and policymakers in India should consider promoting physical activity as part of comprehensive routine prenatal care.

    Keywords: physical activity, C-section delivery, Maternal health outcomes, life course approach, cohort study

    Received: 24 Jul 2023; Accepted: 02 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Ana, van den Brand, van Schayck and Babu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Giridhara R Babu, Indian institute of Public Health, Public Health Foundation of India, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.