TY - JOUR

T1 - Recreational physical activity and the risk of preeclampsia

T2 - A prospective cohort of Norwegian women

AU - Magnus, Per

AU - Trogstad, Lill

AU - Owe, Katrine M.

AU - Olsen, Sjurdur F.

AU - Nystad, Wenche

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - Previous case-control studies suggest that recreational physical activity protects against preeclampsia. Using a prospective design, the authors estimated the risk of preeclampsia for pregnant women according to level of physical activity, taking other variables that influence risk into consideration. The data set comprised 59,573 pregnancies from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (1999-2006). Information on physical activity and other exposures was extracted from questionnaire responses given in pregnancy weeks 14-22, whereas diagnosis of preeclampsia was retrieved from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. Estimation and confounder control was performed with multiple logistic regression. About 24% of pregnant women reported no physical activity, and 7% reported more than 25 such activities per month. The adjusted odds ratio was 0.79 (95% confidence interval: 0.65, 0.96) for preeclampsia when comparing women who exercised 25 times or more per month with inactive women. The association appeared strongest among women whose body mass index was less than 25 kg/m 2 and was absent among women whose body mass index was higher than 30 kg/m2. These results suggest that the preventive effect of recreational physical activity during pregnancy may be more limited than has been shown in case-control studies and may apply to nonobese women only.

AB - Previous case-control studies suggest that recreational physical activity protects against preeclampsia. Using a prospective design, the authors estimated the risk of preeclampsia for pregnant women according to level of physical activity, taking other variables that influence risk into consideration. The data set comprised 59,573 pregnancies from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (1999-2006). Information on physical activity and other exposures was extracted from questionnaire responses given in pregnancy weeks 14-22, whereas diagnosis of preeclampsia was retrieved from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. Estimation and confounder control was performed with multiple logistic regression. About 24% of pregnant women reported no physical activity, and 7% reported more than 25 such activities per month. The adjusted odds ratio was 0.79 (95% confidence interval: 0.65, 0.96) for preeclampsia when comparing women who exercised 25 times or more per month with inactive women. The association appeared strongest among women whose body mass index was less than 25 kg/m 2 and was absent among women whose body mass index was higher than 30 kg/m2. These results suggest that the preventive effect of recreational physical activity during pregnancy may be more limited than has been shown in case-control studies and may apply to nonobese women only.

KW - Body mass index

KW - Cohort studies

KW - Exercise

KW - Pre-eclampsia

KW - Pregnancy

U2 - 10.1093/aje/kwn189

DO - 10.1093/aje/kwn189

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 18701444

AN - SCOPUS:53749096496

VL - 168

SP - 952

EP - 957

JO - American Journal of Epidemiology

JF - American Journal of Epidemiology

SN - 0002-9262

IS - 8

ER -