Survey of patterns, attitudes, and the general effects of exercise during pregnancy in 203 Thai pregnant women at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.
The patterns, attitudes, and general effects of exercise during pregnancy on the pregnancy outcome were retrospectively studied on a consecutive series of Thai pregnant women at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital between April and June 2000. Two hundred and three postnatal patients were recruited and interviewed systematically. About 42.36 per cent of cases reported exercise while 57.64 per cent did not. The most common mode of exercise was walking, reported in 95.3 per cent and was most commonly performed in the afternoon (94.2%). The significant differences between the exercise and non-exercise group were income, education, occupation, some pregnant and neonatal outcomes. There was no significant difference in the occurrence of complications in both the exercise and non-exercise groups. The studied subjects mostly felt that exercise could be done during pregnancy and believed that it produced benefits rather than harm. However, the proportion of the study group actually exercising was less than half and might be related to the infrequent advice given by obstetricians and nurses. To encourage proper exercise in pregnancy, all members of the related health care team should be involved closely in the planning.
Piravej
K
K
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Saksirinukul
R
R
D000328:Adult; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000502:physiology*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011336:Probability; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013785:Thailand