ObstetricsBeginning regular exercise in early pregnancy: Effect on fetoplacental growth☆,☆☆
Section snippets
General procedures
The experimental protocol was approved by the hospital’s internal review board for human experimentation and used a prospective randomized design in which healthy, non–substance-abusing women were enrolled before pregnancy. At that time they completed a demographic questionnaire and underwent a physical fitness assessment including a fixed-rate, progressive-incline treadmill evaluation of maximum aerobic capacity.8 Then, after conception and ultrasonographic documentation of a viable singleton
General findings
Of the 50 women enrolled, 46 had an uncomplicated pregnancy and completed the protocol. Two women randomly assigned to the exercise group were noncompliant, and 1 randomly assigned woman in each group had preterm labor. There were no other pregnancy complications. Twentyfour of the women who completed the protocol had been randomly assigned to the control group and 22 to the exercise group. All except 3 of these women (2 exercisers and 1 control woman) worked outside the home.
Compliance with
Comment
These data warrant several conclusions. First, beginning a program of regular, moderate-intensity, weight-bearing exercise at 8 or 9 weeks’ gestation has a positive effect on fetoplacental growth rate and ultimately size at birth. This is not an entirely new finding; epidemiologic studies have suggested that birth weights may be heavier when any one of several weight-bearing regimens are either begun or continued during pregnancy.5, 17, 18, 19 The fact that similar findings are not present when
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2022, Digital Human Modeling and Medicine: The Digital Twin
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Supported by grants HD21268, HD21109, and RR00080 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and by funds from the MetroHealth Medical Center.
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Reprint requests: James F. Clapp III, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, MetroHealth Medical Center, 2500 MetroHealth Dr, Cleveland, OH 44109.