Barriers to physical activity among pregnant women: a systematic review

Abstract

Physical activity can reduce the risk of having diabetes Mellitus, reduce weight gain, enhance mood among pregnant women. However, evidence showed that 60-80% of women do not adhere to the recommended guidelines of physical activity. Therefore, it is important to determine the key barriers to physical activity as they can inspire policymakers and pregnant women themselves to address such barriers. There is a lack of systematic reviews on this topic. They can provide evidence with higher quality and less risk of bias, compared with individual studies. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct a systematic review to determine the barriers to physical activity among pregnant women. The review used the PRISMA protocol for systematic reviews. The eligibility criteria included studies with pregnant women (population), physical activity (exposure), and barriers to adherence (outcome). The review only included peer reviews design with a cross-sectional design, cohort design, longitudinal design, randomised controlled design, and qualitative studies. The search yielded 17 studies. Findings showed that several barriers to physical activity among pregnant women. For example, perceptions that physical activity may lead to miscarriage or harm was one of the key barriers. Also, lack of time, lack of family support, fatigue, and strain were key barriers. This review has several strengths such as the use of the CASP checklist, use of different sources, and inclusion of studies with both quantitative and qualitative design. However, it was limited to studies published in English and was restricted to a limited set of databases.