title: Prevalence and correlates of objectively measured physical activity and sedentary behavior among US pregnant women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Physical activity is recommended for pregnant women without medical or obstetric complications. This study described the prevalence and correlates of objectively-measured physical activity and sedentary behavior among United States pregnant women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using cross-sectional data collected from the 2003 to 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 359 pregnant women ≥16 years wore an accelerometer for 1 week.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women participated in a mean of 12.0 minutes/day (standard error (SE) 0.86) of moderate activity and 0.3 minutes/day (SE 0.08) of vigorous activity. Mean moderate to vigorous physical activity varied by trimester: 11.5 minutes/day in first trimester, 14.3 minutes/day in second trimester, and 7.6 minutes/day in third trimester. On average, women spent 57.1% of their monitored time in sedentary behaviors. In multivariable adjusted models, moderate to vigorous physical activity was higher in the first (p=0.02) and second (p<0.001) trimesters compared to the third trimester, and among women with higher household income (p=0.03) compared to lower household income. In multivariable adjusted models, average counts/minute was higher in the second compared to the third trimester (p=0.04).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most pregnant women spent more than half of the monitored day in sedentary behaviors and did not meet recommendations for physical activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, NC, USA. kelly_evenson@unc.edu
authors.forename: Kelly R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Evenson
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wen
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D009043:Motor Activity; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D011247:Pregnancy; D011264:Pregnancy Trimesters / Q000523:psychology; D037841:Pregnant People / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult