Abstract

For pregnant women of normal weight, prenatal exercise lowers the risk of giving birth to infants weighing less than 4000 g, but for pregnant women who are overweight or obese, the data on the effect of maternal cardiorespiratory fitness on birthweight is unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the association between birthweight in OW/OB pregnant women and maternal prenatal PA and CRF. The information came from a study of randomised controlled exercise interventions in sedentary OW OB pregnant women. For the analyses, only women with complete information on birthweight, peak oxygen consumption at 17 weeks, and daily PA were considered. While accounting for gestational age, weight increase, and group assignment, multiple linear regression models were used to examine the independent and combined correlations of maternal PA and CRF with birthweight. In general, the lack of results in this trial may be explained by the low dose of PA, poor maternal PA and CRF variability. Further study is required because there are so few studies that look at these links in pregnant OW/OB women.