Avaliação da qualidade de vida em gestantes de diferentes níveis de atividade física

Abstract

During the gestational period, the woman's body undergoes several changes, requiring more attention so that the pregnancy is healthy and that pregnant women enjoy a better quality of life. The objective of this study was to verify whether the practice of physical activity performed by women during pregnancy can positively influence their quality of life. The selected pregnant women were recruited in a physiotherapy clinic, where all were patients, they answered three questionnaires. One for sociodemographic and anthropometric data collection, one on physical activity level, Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire (PPAQ) and another on aspects related to quality of life (WHOQOL-brief). Nutritional status was assessed using the Body Mass Index (BMI). The data obtained were presented as mean and standard error and a 5% level of significance was considered. 43 pregnant women participated in the research. Chronological age, gestational age, weight, height, and BMI did not differ between groups. According to the level of physical activity, the pregnant women were classified as: a) sedentary (n=2); b) insufficiently active (n=20); c) active (n=14) and d) very active (n=7), totaling 43 pregnant women. The physical and environment domains showed no statistical difference between the groups, with p=0.314 and p=0.529 respectively. Regarding the psychological domains (15.4±1.9), social relationships (15.4±1.9), self- assessment (15.7±2.3) and general QOL (15.3±1.9) active pregnant women had a better score when compared to insufficiently active and sedentary pregnant women. The very active pregnant women also had better scores in the psychological domains (15.9±1.0), social relationships (16.0±3.2), self-assessment (17.1±1.6) and general QOL (15, 6±1.2) when compared to those who were insufficiently active and sedentary. It is concluded that, according to the comparison made between the quality of life of pregnant women related to the levels of physical activity, it is positive. So the regular practice of physical activities should be encouraged in this group.