Association of Self-Reported Physical Fitness with Pregnancy Related Symptoms the GESTAFIT Project Marín Jiménez, Nuria Borges Cosic, Milkana Ocón Hernández, Olga Coll Risco, Irene De la Flor Alemany, Marta Baena García, Laura Aparicio García-Molina, Virginia International Fitness Scale Gestation Strength Flexibility Cardiorespiratory fitness Agility Pregnancy discomfort The present study was partially funded by the Regional Ministry of Health of the Junta de Andalucía (PI-0395-2016) and the Research and Knowledge Transfer Fund (PPIT) 2016, Excellence Actions Programme: Scientific Units of Excellence (UCEES), and the Regional Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Enterprises and University, European Regional Development Funds (ref. SOMM17/6107/UGR). MFA was additionally funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (Grant number FPU17/03715). This study is included in the thesis of NMJ enrolled in the Doctoral Programme in Biomedicine of the University of Granada. We are grateful for the plenty co-operation and participation of all the pregnant women recruited in the GESTAFIT project. We explored the association of physical fitness (PF) with pregnancy-related symptoms, at the 16th and 34th gestational weeks (g.w.). The International Fitness Scale and the Pregnancy Symptoms Inventory were employed to assess self-reported PF and pregnancy-related symptoms, respectively. At the 16th g.w. greater self-reported overall PF was associated with lower incidence of urinary frequency (p = 0.020); greater overall PF, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), muscular strength and speed-agility were associated with lower incidence of tiredness-fatigue (all, p < 0.05); greater overall PF and speed-agility were associated with lower incidence of poor sleep (both, p < 0.05); greater CRF and flexibility were associated with lower limitations by tiredness-fatigue (both, p < 0.05); and greater flexibility was associated with lower limitations by poor sleep (p = 0.021). At the 34th g.w. greater self-reported overall PF, CRF and muscular strength were associated with lower incidence of tiredness-fatigue (all, p < 0.05); greater CRF was associated with lower incidence of poor sleep (p = 0.019); and, greater flexibility was associated with lower incidence of increased vaginal discharge (p = 0.023). Adequate levels of PF, especially CRF, may help women to cope with the most endorsed pregnancy-related symptoms and its limitations, especially tiredness-fatigue and poor sleep. 2021-05-10T08:06:10Z 2021-05-10T08:06:10Z 2021-03-24 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Marín-Jiménez, N.; Borges-Cosic, M.; Ocón-Hernández, O.; Coll-Risco, I.; Flor-Alemany, M.; Baena-García, L.; Castro-Piñero, J.; Aparicio, V.A. Association of Self-Reported Physical Fitness with Pregnancy Related Symptoms the GESTAFIT Project. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 3345. [https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073345] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/68423 10.3390/ijerph18073345 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI