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Dietary behaviors, physical activity, and cigarette smoking among pregnant Puerto Rican women ^1,2,3

¹ From the Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, the Department of Public Health, the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (AG, PP, LC-T); the Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, MA (PP, GM); and the Jean Mayer US Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA (KLT)

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 [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.