Update and Novel Validation of a Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire

Area of Science:

• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Sports Medicine
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Accurate measurement of physical activity during pregnancy is crucial for maternal and fetal health.
• Existing self-report questionnaires may have limitations in capturing the full spectrum of physical activity.
• Novel technologies like accelerometers and wearable cameras offer objective measures in free-living conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To update and validate the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ).
• To enhance the measurement performance of self-reported physical activity during pregnancy.
• To assess the PPAQ's validity against objective accelerometer and wearable camera data.

Main Methods:

• A prospective cohort of 50 pregnant women was enrolled.
• Participants completed the PPAQ and wore an accelerometer and wearable camera for 7 days in each trimester.
• The PPAQ was re-administered post-measurement for reproducibility assessment.

Main Results:

• Spearman correlations between PPAQ and accelerometer data ranged from 0.17 to 0.53 for different activity intensities.
• Correlations between PPAQ and wearable camera data ranged from 0.26 to 0.70 for specific activity types.
• Reproducibility scores for PPAQ were high, ranging from 0.70 to 0.92.

Conclusions:

• The updated Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ) demonstrates reliability and validity.
• It effectively measures a wide range of physical activities undertaken by pregnant women.
• The study supports the use of PPAQ for assessing physical activity in pregnancy research and practice.