Dietary behaviors, physical activity, and cigarette smoking among pregnant Puerto Rican women.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Few studies have examined predictors of meeting health guidelines in pregnancy among Latina women.

OBJECTIVE:
We assessed dietary behaviors, physical activity, and cigarette smoking in the Latina Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Study, a prospective cohort of 1231 prenatal care patients.

DESIGN:
Self-reported information on lifestyle factors, demographics, medical history, and physical activity was collected by bilingual interviewers during pregnancy. Fruit/vegetable intake was determined by summing the reported consumption of specific fruit and vegetables on a food-frequency questionnaire designed for this population and then adjusted for reported total daily servings.

RESULTS:
Approximately 13% of women met physical activity guidelines [>or=10 metabolic equivalents (MET)-h/wk], 19% met fruit/vegetable guidelines (7 servings/d), 21% of women smoked, and 1.4% consumed alcohol during pregnancy. In multivariate analyses, Spanish-language preference, an indicator of less acculturation, was associated with an approximately 40% less likelihood of both smoking [odds ratio (OR):
0.6; 95%

CI:
0.4, 0.8] and meeting physical activity guidelines (OR:
0.6; 95%

CI:
0.3, 1.0). College education was associated with a 2-fold greater likelihood of meeting fruit/vegetable guidelines (OR:
2.2; 95%

CI:
1.1, 4.3) and a lower likelihood of smoking (OR:
0.2; 95%

CI:
0.1, 0.4). A history of adverse pregnancy outcome was associated with a >4-fold greater likelihood of meeting physical activity guidelines. Smoking in pregnancy was associated with a decreased likelihood of meeting the fruit/vegetable guidelines (RR:
0.5; 95%

CI:
0.3, 0.9).

CONCLUSION:
Factors related to engagement in prenatal health behaviors should be addressed in the design of targeted intervention strategies in this underserved and rapidly growing population.

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Author information

Author/s: Gollenberg, Audra (A); Pekow, Penelope (P); Markenson, Glenn (G); Tucker, Katherine L (KL); Chasan-Taber, Lisa (L);

Affiliation: Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Department of Public Health, the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The American journal of clinical nutrition (Am J Clin Nutr), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Jun; vol 87 (issue 6) : pp 1844-51

Dates: Created 2008/06/10; Completed 2008/08/01;

PMID: 18541576, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Alcohol Drinking - epidemiology
Cohort Studies
Exercise
Feeding Behavior
Female
Food Habits
Fruit
Humans

Interviews as Topic
Parity
Pregnancy - physiology
Pregnancy Complications - epidemiology; physiopathology
Prenatal Care
Puerto Rico
Smoking - epidemiology
Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology
Vegetables
Weight Gain

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