Physical activity level and associated factors among pregnant women attending two antenatal clinics in Kandy district, Sri Lanka: facility based cross sectional study

Abstract

Physical activity during pregnancy has a major impact on a mother’s health and fetal growth. The objective of the study was to assess the level of physical activity and associated factors (maternal age, parity, educational level and occupation) among pregnant women attending two antenatal clinics in Kandy District. A facility based cross sectional study was conducted at two antenatal clinics (Asgiriya and Mahaiyawa) in Kandy District. Sixty pregnant women were selected by convenience sampling and data was collected using pregnancy physical activity questionnaire. According to the results, the physical activity status of the study participants was classified as sedentary (68.33%), low (26.66%) and moderate (5%). The highest proportion (29.2%) of the sedentary participants were within the 21-25 years age group and the lowest proportion of them (4.9%) were within the 36- 40 years age group. 66.66% of the participants with moderate physical activity were within the 31-35 years age group and 33.33% of them were within the 36-40 years age group. All the primiparous women (100%) were identified as sedentary and all the participants with moderate physical activity (100%) were multiparous.73.18% of the sedentary participants had only secondary education while 26.82% of them had higher education.66.66% of the participants with moderate physical activity had higher education and the rest of them (33.33%) had only secondary education.56.09% of the sedentary women had no occupation while 43.91% of them were employed. All the participants with moderate physical activity (100%) had no occupation. The study revealed that the sedentary physical activity was highly prevalent among primiparous women in the 21-25 years age group with no higher education and no occupation. In conclusion, further studies should be conducted to assess the physical activity level and associated factors as a preventive health care strategy for the optimization of health during pregnancy.