Pregnant and working? Study links frequent bending and walking to higher miscarriage risk
Each additional hour spent bending forward by 30 degrees or more was associated with a 36 per cent higher risk of miscarriage
A Danish study published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine has found that increased physical activity at work during early pregnancy, specifically prolonged standing, walking, and bending forward, is linked to a higher risk of miscarriage.
A Danish study published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine has found that increased physical activity at work during early pregnancy, specifically prolonged standing, walking, and bending forward, is linked to a higher risk of miscarriage.
A Danish study published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine has found that increased physical activity at work during early pregnancy, specifically prolonged standing, walking, and bending forward, is linked to a higher risk of miscarriage.
Frequently bending forwards and walking a lot at work during early pregnancy may increase the risk of miscarriage, finds a Danish study published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine.
Miscarriage affects around 15 per cent of pregnancies, and while factors such as parental age, smoking, shift work, air pollution and chemical exposures are already known to influence risk, the impact of workplace physical activity has remained uncertain.
To find out, researchers analysed data from around 4.75 lakh working women in Denmark, covering a little over eight lakh pregnancies between 2004 and 2018.
Researchers estimated the time women spent standing, walking and bending forward at an angle of 30 degrees or more at work using a pregnancy-specific model that combined activity tracker data with expert evaluations.
A total of 81,307 pregnancies ended in miscarriage. The analysis found that spending more time standing, walking and bending forward at work was linked to a higher risk of miscarriage.
Each additional hour spent bending forward by 30 degrees or more was associated with a 36 per cent higher risk of miscarriage. Every extra hour spent walking was linked to an 18 per cent increase in risk, while standing was associated with a modest 3 per cent increase.
The researchers were unable to account for factors such as smoking during pregnancy, heavy lifting, shift work and some workplace chemical exposures, which may also have contributed to the observed associations.
Even so, they say the findings suggest that prolonged forward bending in early pregnancy deserves greater attention.