24-hour time-use behaviors and maternal depressive symptoms during early pregnancy: Compositional data analysis
- 1University of Pittsburgh
Abstract
Background: Previous research suggested that modifiable health factors such as physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep (i.e., 24-hour time-use behaviors) were potential intervention targets to improve antenatal depressive symptoms. However, most previous studies examine one behavior at a time, ignoring their co-dependence. The aim of this study was to examine the association between 24-hour time-use behaviors and depressive symptoms during early pregnancy. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis using baseline data from the Health and Behaviors in Transition (HABIT) trial. Pregnant participants with pre-pregnancy body mass index [≥]25 kg/m2 wore a wrist-worn ActiGraph for seven consecutive days to estimate moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light physical activity (LPA), inactivity (IA), and sleep. We used compositional data analysis with an isometric log-ratio transformation to examine associations with depressive symptoms, quantified by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), adjusting for maternal age, socioeconomic status, and cohabitation status. G-computation was applied to estimate the marginal mean of depressive symptoms at specified durations of each behavior, with the remaining time reallocated proportionally among the other behaviors. Results: A total of 255 participants with median EPDS score of 5.0 (IQR, 2.0-8.0) had geometric mean 24-hour behaviors of MVPA = 75.5 min/day (5.2%), LPA = 311.2 min/day (21.6%), IA = 593.9 min/day (41.2%), and sleep = 459.4 min/day (31.9%). 24-hour time-use behaviors were not significantly associated with EPDS scores, and marginal mean EPDS scores showed minimal changes (MVPA 10 min: 6.51 (95% CI 4.22, 9.64) vs 40 min: 5.97 (95% CI 5.03, 6.97); sleep 300 min: 5.41 (95% CI 4.56, 6.22) vs 480 min: 5.81 (95% CI 5.23, 6.39)). Conclusions: In this relatively active pregnant population, 24-hour time-use behaviors were not associated with depressive symptoms. Future research can examine later trimesters or other populations that are more sedentary or more depressed.
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BibTeX
@misc{yoshimasu202624hour,
title = {{24-hour time-use behaviors and maternal depressive symptoms during early pregnancy: Compositional data analysis}},
author = {T. Yoshimasu and N. Kim and J. Matuk and C. M. Personette and R. E. Garcia and M. D. Levine and M. S. Hawkins},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.29.26366835},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.29.26366835v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - 24-hour time-use behaviors and maternal depressive symptoms during early pregnancy: Compositional data analysis
AU - T. Yoshimasu
AU - N. Kim
AU - J. Matuk
AU - C. M. Personette
AU - R. E. Garcia
AU - M. D. Levine
AU - M. S. Hawkins
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.29.26366835
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.29.26366835v1
AB - Background: Previous research suggested that modifiable health factors such as physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep (i.e., 24-hour time-use behaviors) were potential intervention targets to improve antenatal depressive symptoms. However, most previous studies examine one behavior at a time, ignoring their co-dependence. The aim of this study was to examine the association between 24-hour time-use behaviors and depressive symptoms during early pregnancy. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis using baseline data from the Health and Behaviors in Transition (HABIT) trial. Pregnant participants with pre-pregnancy body mass index [≥]25 kg/m2 wore a wrist-worn ActiGraph for seven consecutive days to estimate moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), light physical activity (LPA), inactivity (IA), and sleep. We used compositional data analysis with an isometric log-ratio transformation to examine associations with depressive symptoms, quantified by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), adjusting for maternal age, socioeconomic status, and cohabitation status. G-computation was applied to estimate the marginal mean of depressive symptoms at specified durations of each behavior, with the remaining time reallocated proportionally among the other behaviors. Results: A total of 255 participants with median EPDS score of 5.0 (IQR, 2.0-8.0) had geometric mean 24-hour behaviors of MVPA = 75.5 min/day (5.2%), LPA = 311.2 min/day (21.6%), IA = 593.9 min/day (41.2%), and sleep = 459.4 min/day (31.9%). 24-hour time-use behaviors were not significantly associated with EPDS scores, and marginal mean EPDS scores showed minimal changes (MVPA 10 min: 6.51 (95% CI 4.22, 9.64) vs 40 min: 5.97 (95% CI 5.03, 6.97); sleep 300 min: 5.41 (95% CI 4.56, 6.22) vs 480 min: 5.81 (95% CI 5.23, 6.39)). Conclusions: In this relatively active pregnant population, 24-hour time-use behaviors were not associated with depressive symptoms. Future research can examine later trimesters or other populations that are more sedentary or more depressed.
ER -