Influence of Exercise Types during Pregnancy on Maternal Cardiometabolic Profiles

Abstract

Pregnant women can follow exercise recommendations posted by the American College of Sports Medicine for the general population. Various studies demonstrate that exercise during pregnancy is safe for the pregnant woman and the fetus and can have positive effects on maternal cardiometabolic health. For example, maternal exercise during pregnancy is known to lower SBP, moderate weight gain, and lower total cholesterol levels during pregnancy. While current research explores exercise effects on various cardiometabolic factors, there is a gap in knowledge when comparing specific exercise types and when comparing effects between healthy and overweight/obese populations. Based on current research it is expected that combination exercise with both aerobic and resistance training will decrease GWG, blood lipids, and body fat percentage, while increasing HDL cholesterol. To address this gap in knowledge, healthy, singleton pregnancy women between 13-16 weeks gestation were recruited and placed in one of four exercise intervention groups: aerobic, resistance, combination, and attention-control. With a significance level of p<0.05, ANOVA tests were conducted to determine significant differences between groups. All participants were analyzed before and after controlling for attendance, and then participants were analyzed based on their pre-pregnancy BMI. Major findings included that exercise is beneficial for SBP, LDL, and triglyceride levels, and the overall CMR decreased for each exercise group as compared to the control. However, when analyzed based on their pre-pregnancy classifications, CMR decreased for women with a healthy pre-pregnancy, but CMR increased for women who were overweight/obese pre-pregnancy, except for those in the resistance group. Further study is thus needed to evaluate this change in CMR across pregnancies in a large, diverse population.