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A trio of studies (Abstracts 1101, 1079, and 944) presented on February 14 at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) 2024 Pregnancy Meeting point to the power of staying physically active during pregnancy. The work highlights the beneficial effects of exercise on a variety of outcomes, including depression, anxiety, and reducing the rate of cesarean deliveries.
“Twenty-plus years ago, there were so many recommendations for bedrest in pregnancy,” said Danielle Panelli, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine physician and research scholar at Stanford University in Stanford, California. “We’ve really come full circle on that.” The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends pregnant people get at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week.
Panelli and colleagues looked at the association of physical activity and anxiety among three groups of pregnant people: 20 outpatients from low-risk obstetric clinics, 20 outpatients from high-risk obstetric clinics, and 19 inpatients. Participants wore accelerometer watches for up to seven days to measure physical activity. The primary outcome was mean daily step count, with secondary outcomes including metabolic equivalent tasks (METs), moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and anxiety as measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory.
Low-risk outpatients had an average daily step count of 9090 compared with high-risk outpatients at 8898 and inpatients at 6493. Compared with outpatients, inpatients also had significantly lower METs (adjusted beta, -0.20; 95% CI -0.26 to -0.13; P <.001 and mvpas beta ci to p over the course of a week steps progressively decreased for inpatients but not women in either outpatient groups. among entire cohort lower step counts correlated with higher anxiety scores>
“These results highlight the need for physical activity interventions, particularly for hospitalized pregnant people,” Panelli said. That could be something as simple as asking patients to walk three laps around the unit per day, she suggested.
A second study investigated the effect of physical activity during pregnancy on peripartum depression. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham reviewed data from participants in nuMoM2b, a large cohort study of pregnant women who would be delivering for the first time and had at least one medical comorbidity, such as chronic hypertension, asthma, or cardiac disease. The investigators looked at activity logs maintained by study participants and turned in at three study visits: 6-13.6 weeks, 14-21.6 weeks, and 22-29.6 weeks.
Being physically active was associated with 15% lower odds of having an Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Score (EPDS)> 10 (adjusted odds ratio, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.72-0.99). Nine percent of people in the active group and 12% of people in the nonactive group had an EPDS> 10, which is suggestive of depression. However, a change in EPDS from visit one to three and treatment for perinatal depression did not differ by physical activity.
Dr Charlotte McCarley
“One of the interesting findings are that we didn’t see any safety signals [from exercise], so there wasn’t an increase in suspected fetal growth restriction or low fluid or preterm birth, or actual birthweight being low in the people who were active,” said Charlotte McCarley, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine fellow at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who led the research. “A lot of studies have been done that have looked at prospective exercise in pregnancy, but they exclude the cohort that we looked at for concern that there may be a safety issue.”
In a third study, researchers at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel, looked at the effect of physical activity on mode of delivery. The prospective observational analysis included 401 women with singleton pregnancies attempting vaginal deliveries.
The researchers tracked the number of daily steps taken during gestation using validated phone apps. They adjusted their findings for age, parity, body mass index, and medical and obstetric history.
The investigators observed a gradual decrease in physical activity as pregnancy progressed (mean of 3184 steps in the first trimester, 2700 steps in mid-pregnancy, and 2152 steps in the third trimester). The overall incidence of cesarean delivery was 10.5%. However, women who were more active during pregnancy had a significantly lower incidence of cesarean delivery.
Area under the ROC curve, with a cut-off of 2093.5 daily steps, was 0.694 (95% CI, 0.615-0.773), resulting in a significant risk reduction in a 78% reduction in the rate of cesarean surgery (odds ratio, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.104-0.465).
More active patients also had a reduced composite outcome of gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, and preeclampsia; less use of epidural analgesia during labor; and less postpartum hemorrhage. Preterm birth, labor induction, neonatal weight, and admission to the neonatal intensive care unit were not significantly affected, the researchers reported.
“Maintaining an active lifestyle during pregnancy should be strongly encouraged,” they wrote.
The investigators disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Karen Blum is a freelance medical/science writer in the Baltimore area.
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