A Virtual Exercise Program throughout Pregnancy during the COVID-19 Pandemic Modifies Maternal Weight Gain, Smoking Habits and Birth Weight—Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

The intrauterine environment is key to health from a short- and long-term perspective. Birth weight is an important indicator that may influence the fetal environment due to epigenetics. Considering physical inactivity, in parallel with higher levels of stress, affecting smoking patterns and the physical and emotional health of the pregnant population, maintaining the health of future generations is crucial. A randomized clinical trial (NCT04563065) was conducted. One-hundred and ninety-two healthy pregnant individuals were assigned to the intervention (IG) or control (CG) group. Overall, significant differences were found between groups when stratified by birth weight (χ2 (1) = 6.610; p = 0.037) with low birth weight and macrosomia found more often in the CG (4% vs. 14% and 3% vs. 9%, respectively) and higher admissions to the neonatal intensive care unit (χ2 (1) = 5.075; p = 0.024) in the CG (20/28.6%) compared to the IG (9/13.0). Smoking during pregnancy was also found more often in the CG (12/17.1%) compared to the IG (3/4.4%) (p = 0.016). A virtual program of supervised exercise throughout pregnancy during the ongoing pandemic could help to maintain adequate birth weights, modify maternal smoking habits, and lower admissions to the neonatal intensive care unit.

A narrative review of exercise dose during pregnancy

“…Finally, the concurrent exercise of resistance and aerobic exercise has been shown to have powerful benefits for maternal health and perinatal outcomes (Perales et al, 2016). These include a lower risk of preterm deliveries and abnormal birth weight (Silva‐Jose, Sánchez‐Polán, Barakat, Díaz‐Blanco, Mottola, & Refoyo, 2022), gestational weight gain and GDM (Silva‐Jose, Sánchez‐Polán, Barakat, Díaz‐Blanco, Carrero Martínez, et al, 2022; Silva‐Jose, Sánchez‐Polán, Barakat, Díaz‐Blanco, Mottola, & Refoyo, 2022; Uria‐Minguito et al, 2022), and hypertension (Gascoigne et al, 2023; Juhl et al, 2008), without compromising fetal well‐being (Fernández‐Buhigas et al, 2023). To date, data from observational and small intervention studies show that prenatal resistance exercise can incur many of the same benefits for mother and fetus as aerobic exercise, but more randomized controlled trials for resistance exercise are needed.…”

Exercise FITT‐V during pregnancy: Association with birth outcomes

“…Furthermore, concurrent resistance/strength and aerobic exercise is safe and is associated with benefits for perinatal outcomes (Perales et al, 2016). Reports show lower risk of preterm deliveries, abnormal birth weight (Silva-Jose, S anchez-Pol an, Barakat, Díaz-Blanco, Mottola, et al, 2022b), gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) (Silva-Jose, S anchez-Pol an, Barakat, Díaz-Blanco, Carrero Martínez, et al, 2022a;Uria-Minguito et al, 2022), and hypertension (Gascoigne et al, 2023;Juhl et al, 2008).…”