Exercise during pregnancy improves maternal glucose screen at 24–28 weeks: a randomised controlled trial
- 1Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte – INEF, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
- 2Department of Obstetric and Gynecology, Hospital de Fuenlabrada, Madrid, Spain
- Correspondence to Ruben Barakat, Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte – INEF, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Martín Fierro, 28040 Madrid, Spain; barakatruben{at}gmail.com
- Accepted 30 August 2011
- Published Online First 26 September 2011
Abstract
Objective The influence of an exercise programme performed by healthy pregnant women on maternal glucose tolerance was studied.
Study design A physical activity (PA, land/aquatic activities) programme during the entire pregnancy (three sessions per week) was conducted by a qualified instructor. 83 healthy pregnant women were randomly assigned to either an exercise group (EG, n=40) or a control (CG, n=43) group. 50 g maternal glucose screen (MGS), maternal weight gain and several pregnancy outcomes were recorded.
Results Significant differences were found between study groups on the 50 g MGS. Values corresponding to the EG (103.8±20.4 mg/dl) were better than those of the CG (126.9±29.5 mg/dl), p=0.000. In addition, no differences in maternal weight gain and no cases of gestational diabetes in EG versus 3 in CG (7%) (p>0.05) were found.
Conclusion A moderate PA programme performed during pregnancy improves levels of maternal glucose tolerance.
Footnotes
-
Funding This work was partially supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain (DEP2009-08990).
-
Competing interests None.
-
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
