Abstract
Objective
To study the effect on maternal weight gain of a supervised light- to moderate-intensity
exercise–based intervention performed from the ninth week of pregnancy.
Participants and Methods
A total of 962 healthy pregnant women were randomly assigned to a standard care or
exercise intervention group conducted between September 1, 2007, and January 31, 2011.
The intervention included light- to moderate-intensity aerobic and resistance exercises
performed 3 days a week (50-55 minutes per session). Excessive gestational weight
gain was calculated on the basis of the 2009 Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations.
Gestational body weight gain was calculated on the basis of the weight measured at
the first prenatal visit (fifth to sixth weeks of gestation) and weight measured at
the last visit to the clinic before delivery. Women were categorized into normal weight
or overweight or obese.
Results
Women in the intervention group gained less weight (adjusted mean difference, 1.039
kg; 95% CI, 0.534-1.545 kg; P<.001) and were less likely to gain weight above the IOM recommendations (odds ratio,
0.625; 95% CI, 0.461-0.847) compared with those in the standard care group. The main
treatment effects according to body mass index category were that normal weight women
in the intervention group gained less weight (adjusted mean difference, 1.393 kg;
95% CI, 0.813-1.972 kg; P<.001) and were less likely to gain weight above the IOM recommendations (odds ratio,
0.508; 95% CI, 0.334-0.774) than normal weight women who received standard care. No
significant treatment effect was observed in overweight or obese women.
Conclusion
Supervised exercise of light to moderate intensity can be used to prevent excessive
gestational weight gain, especially in normal weight women.
Trial registration
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01790347
Abbreviations and Acronyms:
BMI (body mass index), IOM (Institute of Medicine), OR (odds ratio), RCT (randomized controlled trial)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Footnotes
For editorial comment, see page 1350
Grant Support: This work was partially supported by grants DEP2009-08990, UPM AL12-P-I+D-14, and RYC-2010-05957 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.
Identification
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