(821) The relationship between antepartum physical activity level and postpartum dyspareunia

Few preventative strategies exist for postpartum (PP) dyspareunia which affects 41-83% of people. We examined whether there is an association between antepartum physical activity and PP dyspareunia.

Study Design:

This was a secondary analysis of a prospective survey study (Pennsylvania (PA) Maternal and Infant Health in a Pandemic) of adult pregnancies at 4 PA health systems from 2023-2025. We compared 6-month PP dyspareunia based on antepartum physical activity (sedentary vs. active) in those who had resumed intercourse PP. The active group was defined as performing ≥ 50% of aerobic activity recommended by the United States Department of Health and Human Servies (HHS) (Table 1). Chi-squared and t-tests evaluated the association between physical activity, participant characteristics, and the primary outcome (PP dyspareunia) for categorical and continuous variables, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression was used to adjust for the association between physical activity and PP dyspareunia using 2 models: 1 adjusting for all demographic variables and 1 adjusting only for variables with p < 0.10. P<span style="color: black;">-values of < 0.05 were considered significant.

Results:

954 patients had resumed intercourse: 412 (43%) were sedentary and 542 (57%) were active. 89% of active patients exceeded the minimum HHS recommendations and most engaged in a combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activities. PP dyspareunia was reported by 116 (28%) and 151 (28%) of the sedentary and active groups, respectively. Physical activity was not associated with PP dyspareunia in the unadjusted (OR=0.98; 95% CI 0.74, 1.31) or either adjusted (Tables 1 & 2) models. Higher parity was protective against PP dyspareunia (aOR 0.79; 95% CI 0.69, 0.92) (Table 1) when adjusting for all other demographics.

Conclusion:

Antepartum physical activity was not associated with a reduction in PP dyspareunia. Additional investigation for postpartum dyspareunia prevention is warranted.