Degree of Physical activity during pregnancy and pregnancy related complication

Background: Even though motherhood is a positive and enjoyable experience, it is also a vulnerable period that can be accompanied by various complications. Hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus are of the most significant contributors to these complications. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to assess if the of degree of physical activities during pregnancy has impact on the development of hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 150 women who gave birth from November 2021 to February 2022 at MTUTH, Ethiopia. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, linear regression, chi-square, and t-test were conducted to check the presence of any association between the dependent and independent variables. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: Among the total study participant, 65(43.3%) and 85(56.7%) of them were engaged in vigorous physical activities and light physical activities during pregnancy, respectively. From these study participants 62 (41.3%) of them had pregnancy related complication. It was found that women who engaged in vigorous physical activity had a lower proportion of complications (17.74%) compared to those who engaged in light physical activity (82.26%). This difference was statistically significant (p=0.001). Conclusion: The finding of this study showed that pregnancy related complication, specifically HDP and GDM, was low in women who had vigorous physical activities during pregnancy as compared to those that have sedentary life style or engaged in light physical activities.