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

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.

• Authors: Audra Gollenberg, Penelope Pekow, Glenn Markenson, Katherine L Tucker, Lisa Chasan-Taber
• Journal: The American journal of clinical nutrition (Am J Clin Nutr) Vol. 87 Issue 6 Pg. 1844-51 (Jun 2008) ISSN: 1938-3207 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 18541576 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Alcohol Drinking (epidemiology)
• Cohort Studies
• Exercise
• Feeding Behavior
• Female
• 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