Association between preeclampsia and levels of physical activity in pregnancy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33897/fujrs.v6i2.606Keywords:
Metabolic equivalent, physical activity, pre-eclampsia, pregnancy, sedentary behaviorAbstract
Background: Preeclampsia is a multiple systemic disorder known to pave way for the manifestations of other musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and neural disorders.
Objectives: This study aims to determine the association between preeclampsia and levels of physical activity in pregnancy.
Methodology: This study (Ref No: SN/135/22) was conducted within 4-6 months. The sample size (n=377) was calculated by Raosoft sample size calculator Data was collected using a pre- validated questionnaire, Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire to asses activity levels in pregnancy.
Result: Among 189 healthy pregnant women (control group) a total of 140 were physically Sedentary and 49 were deemed physically active. This clearly indicated that 74% of the patients that were sorted in the control group were physically sedentary and a total of 26% were physically active. The results clearly state that there is a statistical significance between the two groups as shown by chi-square (p=0.00). This indicates that there is a difference between the results and physical activities of the two groups. The results also show clearly that there is 12.88 times more chances that preeclampsia will prevail in women with a sedentary lifestyle as compared to those women which lead a relatively healthy life style.
Conclusion: The findings conclusively demonstrate that healthy pregnant women maintain significantly higher levels of physical activity across all domains; including household, occupational, sports, and recreational tasks as compared to preeclamptic women. Consequently, reduced physical activity during pregnancy substantially elevates the risk of developing preeclampsia.
References
Owen J, Yost N, Berghella V, Thom E, Swain M, Dildy GA 3rd, et al. Mid-trimester endovaginal sonography in women at high risk for spontaneous preterm birth. JAMA. 2001;286(11):1340-8.
Ness RB, Roberts JM. Heterogeneous causes constituting the single syndrome of preeclampsia: a hypothesis and its implications. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1996;175(5):1365-70.
Boeldt DS, Bird IM. Vascular adaptation in pregnancy and endothelial dysfunction in preeclampsia. J Endocrinol. 2016;232(1):R27.
North RA, McCowan LM, Dekker GA, Poston L, Chan EH, Stewart AW, Black MA, Taylor RS, Walker JJ, Baker PN, Kenny LC. Clinical risk prediction for pre-eclampsia in nulliparous women: development of model in international prospective cohort. BMJ. 2011;342:d1875.
Alanazi AS, Victor F, Rehman K, Khan YH, Yunusa I, Alzarea AI, Akash MSH, Mallhi TH. Pre-existing diabetes mellitus, hypertension and kidney disease as risk factors of pre-eclampsia: a disease of theories and its association with genetic polymorphism. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022;19(24):16690.
Shamsi U, Hatcher J, Shamsi A, Zuberi N, Qadri Z, Saleem S. A multicentre matched case control study of risk factors for preeclampsia in healthy women in Pakistan. BMC Womens Health. 2010;10(1):14.
Narkhede AM, Karnad DR. Preeclampsia and related problems. Indian J Crit Care Med. 2021;25(Suppl 3):S261.
Kasawara KT, Surita FG, Pinto e Silva JL. Translational studies for exercise in high-risk pregnancy: pre-eclampsia model. Hypertens Pregnancy. 2016;35(3):265-79.
Hegaard HK, Ottesen B, Hedegaard M, Petersson K, Henriksen TB, Damm P, Dykes AK. The association between leisure time physical activity in the year before pregnancy and pre-eclampsia. J Obstet Gynaecol. 2010;30(1):21-4.
Bisson M, Croteau J, Guinhouya BC, Bujold E, Audibert F, Fraser WD, Marc I. Physical activity during pregnancy and infant's birth weight: results from the 3D Birth Cohort. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2017;3(1):e000242.
Connolly CP, Mudd LM, Pivarnik JM. Associations among work-related and leisure-time physical activity with level of nausea during pregnancy. Am J Lifestyle Med. 2019;13(4):424-31.
Barakat R, Silva-Jose C, Zhang D, Sánchez-Polán M, Refoyo I, Montejo R. Influence of physical activity during pregnancy on maternal hypertensive disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Pers Med. 2023;14(1):10.
Juhl M, Andersen PK, Olsen J, Madsen M, Jørgensen T, Nøhr EA, Andersen AM. Physical exercise during pregnancy and the risk of preterm birth: a study within the Danish National Birth Cohort. Am J Epidemiol. 2008;167(7):859-66.
Mou AD, Barman Z, Hasan M, Miah R, Hafsa JM, Das Trisha A, Ali N. Prevalence of preeclampsia and the associated risk factors among pregnant women in Bangladesh. Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):21339.
Raguema N, Benletaifa D, Mahjoub T, Lavoie JL. Increased physical activity is correlated with improved pregnancy outcomes in women with preeclampsia: a retrospective study. Pregnancy Hypertens. 2020;21:118-23.
Spracklen CN, Ryckman KK, Triche EW, Saftlas AF. Physical activity during pregnancy and subsequent risk of preeclampsia and gestational hypertension: a case control study. Matern Child Health J. 2016;20(6):1193-202.
Suliga E, Soba? K, Król G. Validation of the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ). Med Stud Stud Med. 2017;33(1):40-5.
Cohen TR, Plourde H, Koski KG. Use of the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ) to identify behaviors associated with appropriate gestational weight gain during pregnancy. J Phys Act Health. 2013;10(7):1000-7.
Sorensen TK, Williams MA, Lee IM, Dashow EE, Thompson ML, Luthy DA. Recreational physical activity during pregnancy and risk of preeclampsia. Hypertension. 2003;41(6):1273-80.
Evenson KR, Savitz DA, Huston SL. Leisure-time physical activity among pregnant women in the US. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2004;18(6):400-7.
Aliyu MH, Luke S, Kristensen S, Alio AP, Salihu HM. Joint effect of obesity and teenage pregnancy on the risk of preeclampsia: a population-based study. J Adolesc Health. 2010;46(1):77-82.
Pei LX, Marozoff S. Sedentary behavior during pregnancy and risk of pre-eclampsia and/or gestational hypertension: a systematic review. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2025;171(1):106-23.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Sunnainah Naveed, Anas Ubaidullah, Mudassar Ali, Sajjal Saleem, Ilma Zahra

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All Articles are made available under a Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International" license. Copyrights on any open-access article published by the Foundation University Journal of Rehabilitation Sciences (FUJRS) are retained by the author(s). FUJRS is an open-access journal that allows free access to its published articles, in addition, to copy and use for research and academic purposes; provided the article is correctly cited. FUJRS does not allow commercial use of the articles published in FUJRS. All articles published represent the view of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy of FUJRS.
