ABSTRACT
Study Objective
Adolescent pregnancy contributes to accelerated trajectories of adiposity and cardiometabolic
diseases. Two potentially low-cost prevention strategies include promoting physical
activity (PA) and limiting television (TV) viewing. Few studies have explored these
behavior patterns in perinatal adolescents. This study sought to characterize PA and
TV viewing in a socioeconomically disadvantaged perinatal adolescent population.
Design, Setting, Participants, and Interventions
A cross-sectional, retrospective, 10-item survey was used to explore behavior patterns
in 79 predominantly Black (86%) postpartum adolescents. Main Outcome Measures: Outcomes included self-reported changes in PA from pre-pregnancy through pregnancy,
and 7-day recall of PA and TV viewing in postpartum.
Results
The majority of adolescents (66%) reported being active on ≥3 days/week in pre-pregnancy;
however, many reported low PA (≤2 days/wk) in their first (59%), second (66%), and
third (54%) trimesters. Adolescents who reported being active on ≥5 days/wk in pre-pregnancy
(19%) experienced first trimester PA decline, which subsequently plateaued. This group
remained the most active throughout pregnancy. In postpartum, over half (54%) of all
adolescents reported low PA and irrespective of PA, spent considerable time watching
TV (median = 1680.0 minutes, inerquartile range = 2940).
Conclusion
Interventions promoting PA coupled with reducing TV viewing during pregnancy and in
postpartum may benefit perinatal adolescents. The findings from this study suggest
that PA history is a predictor of gestational PA, and low PA and high TV viewing in
postpartum underscore the need for behavioral intervention. Conducting a brief assessment
of PA history in early gestation may offer important insight.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 13, 2021
Accepted:
June 29,
2021
Received in revised form:
June 16,
2021
Received:
March 22,
2021
Footnotes
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
This study was conducted in Bolivar, Coahoma, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Leflore, Panola, Quitman, Sharkey, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tunica, and Washington Counites in Mississippi.
Identification
Copyright
Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology.
