Relationship between maximal respiratory pressures and multiple childbearing in Brazilian middle-aged and older women: A cross-sectional community-based study.

Multiple childbearing appears to be negatively associated with maximal respiratory pressures; women with a higher number of lifetime pregnancies had lower values of maximal respiratory pressures when compared to those with fewer pregnancies. This association may be due to biomechanical changes in the respiratory muscles promoted by multiple lifetime pregnancies. This finding indicates a need to motivate women, from the prenatal to postpartum period, to safely exercise their respiratory muscles, including abdominal muscle exercises as well as respiratory muscle training.