Key result
Poor diet, higher BMI, less sleep, and stress linked to suboptimal physical activity years post-delivery.
Why the study?
Factors associated with suboptimal physical activity and sedentary patterns several years after a first pregnancy and delivery remained to be identified.
In women 2-7 years post-delivery, suboptimal physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns are associated with modifiable factors like poor diet, higher BMI, less sleep, and higher stress, as well as socioeconomic barriers.
Associations warrant screening but should not change practice; leaves open whether targeting these factors improves activity patterns.
Purpose Identify demographic, behavioral lifestyle, psychological, and clinical factors associated with suboptimal activity patterns several years after a first pregnancy and delivery. Design Cross-sectional, secondary analysis. Setting and Sample Women (n = 2843) from eight U.S. centers assessed 2-7 years after delivery in the nuMom2b Heart Health Study. Measures Self-reported leisure time moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior (SB) were used to define patterns based on meeting recommendations for MVPA (active at ≥150 minutes/week) and leisure time SB (low SB at ≤3 hours/day). Factors (demographic, behavioral lifestyle, psychological, and clinical) assessed at study visits and hypothesized to be related to MVPA-SB patterns were included. Analysis Multinomial logistic regression with forward selection identified factors associated with MVPA-SB patterns. Results Participants most frequently reported the optimal active + low SB pattern (37.8%). Modifiable factors significantly associated with suboptimal patterns included lower diet quality (odds ratios [OR] 0.18-0.62; P < 0.001), higher body mass index (BMI) (ORs 1.15-2.49; P = 0.001), less sleep (ORs 1.27-1.46; P = 0.0013), and higher perceived stress (ORs 1.20-1.52, P = 0.0015). Lower income (ORs 0.39-0.60, P = 0.0002), lower education (ORs 0.38-0.40; P = 0.0323) and working/studying full-time (ORs 1.42-1.97, P -0.0021) were also associated with suboptimal patterns. Conclusions Future research designing “sit less, move more” interventions following pregnancy and delivery could consider simultaneous intervention for modifiable factors and tailored strategies for low income/education and full-time working/student women who may face additional barriers.
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Gibbs et al. (2026) studied this question. Lower diet quality, higher BMI, less sleep, and higher perceived stress were associated with suboptimal physical activity patterns in women 2-7 years post-delivery.
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