Self‑reported (IFIS) versus measured physical fitness, and their associations to cardiometabolic risk factors in early pregnancy Henström, Maria Ortega Porcel, Francisco Bartolomé The authors would like to thank all the women that participated in the HealthyMoms trial and thereby contributed to the present study. We would also like to thank the involved midwifes at the maternity clinics for helping with the recruitment, and Eva Flinke and Ellinor Nilsson for their assistance in the data collection. The HealthyMoms trial is funded by the Swedish Research Council (2016-01147 to M.L.) and additionally supported by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte, 2017-00088 to P.H.); Bo and Vera Ax:son Johnsons' Foundation (to M.L.); the Strategic Research Area Health Care Science, Karolinska Institutet/Umea University (to P.H.); the Swedish Society of Medicine (to P.H.); Karolinska Institutet (to P.H.); and Lions Forskningsfond (to P.H.). M.H.L. was supported by a grant from Yrjo Jahnsson Foundation. The funders have no role in the design, conduct, data management, or interpretation of the analysis or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Physical fitness is a strong marker of health, but objective fitness measurements are not always feasible. The International FItness Scale (IFIS) for self-reported fitness is a simple-to-use tool with demonstrated validity and reliability; however, validation in pregnancy needs to be confirmed. Also, its association with cardiometabolic health in pregnant women is unknown. Hence, we examined (1) the validity of the IFIS with objectively measured fitness, and (2) the associations of self-reported versus objectively measured cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscular strength with cardiometabolic risk factors in early pregnancy. Women (n = 303) from the HealthyMoms trial were measured at gestational week 14 for: CRF (6-min walk test); upper-body muscular strength (handgrip strength test); self-reported fitness (IFIS), body composition (air-displacement plethysmography); blood pressure and metabolic parameters (lipids, glucose, insulin). Higher self-reported fitness was associated with better measured fitness (ANOVA overall p < 0.01 for all fitness types), indicating the usefulness of the IFIS in pregnancy. Furthermore, higher self-reported overall fitness and CRF were associated with lower cardiometabolic risk scores (ANOVA p < 0.001), with similar results shown for measured CRF (ANOVA p < 0.001). The findings suggest that IFIS could be useful to stratify pregnant women in appropriate fitness levels on a population-based level where objective measurement is not possible. 2021-12-16T12:09:47Z 2021-12-16T12:09:47Z 2021-11-22 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Henström, M... [et al.]. Self-reported (IFIS) versus measured physical fitness, and their associations to cardiometabolic risk factors in early pregnancy. Sci Rep 11, 22719 (2021). [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02149-7] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/72092 10.1038/s41598-021-02149-7 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España Nature