Background: A woman’s health at the time of conception lays the foundation for a healthy pregnancy and the lifelong health of her child. We investigated the health behaviours of UK women planning pregnancy. Methods: We analysed survey data from the ‘Planning for Pregnancy’ online tool (Tommy’s, UK). We described all women planning pregnancy and compared the frequency of non-adherence to preconception recommendations in women who had already stopped contraception (active planners) and those who had not (non-active planners). Results: One hundred thirty-one thousand one hundred eighty-two women from across the UK were included, of whom 64.8% were actively planning pregnancy. Of the whole cohort, twenty percent were smokers and less than one third took folic acid supplements (31.5%). Forty two percent engaged in less than the recommended 150 min of weekly physical activity and only 53.3% consumed five portions of fruit or vegetables 4 days a week. Smokers were 1.87 times more likely to be active planners than non-smokers (95% CI 1.79–1.94), and women who took folic acid were 7 times more likely to be active planners (95% CI 6.97–7.59) compared to women who did not. Smoking, drug use and lack of folic acid supplementation were common in younger women and those who were underweight. Conclusions: This unique survey of UK women has identified poor adherence to preconception recommendations in those planning pregnancies and supports the need for a greater public health focus on preconception health. This study provides a contemporary basis from which to inform preconception health advice and a benchmark to measure changes over time.
CITATION STYLE
McDougall, B., Kavanagh, K., Stephenson, J., Poston, L., Flynn, A. C., & White, S. L. (2021). Health behaviours in 131,182 UK women planning pregnancy. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-021-04007-w
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