The Efficacy of Light-to-moderate Resistance Training in Sedentary Pregnant Women

The Efficacy of Light-to-moderate Resistance Training in Sedentary Pregnant Women: a Randomized Controlled Study

Maintaining a physically active lifestyle is associated with many health benefits, including lower risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, some type of cancer, and depression . Pregnant, healthy women are recommended to do 30 minutes or more of light to moderate exercise a day, although most women in the Western world do not follow current recommendations and decrease their exercise level.

Benefits of exercise during pregnancy are several, including a protective effect against the development of gestational diabetes mellitus, reduced pregnancy related low back pain, and risk of caesarean delivery. On the contrary, a recent review concludes that sedentary behaviors are associated with higher levels of C Reactive Protein and LDL Cholesterol, a larger newborn abdominal circumference, and macrosomia.

Previous studies show that exercise during pregnancy is associated with improvements in psychological well-being among previously sedentary women.

Only a few RCT's have studied resistance exercise during pregnancy. These studies have found reduced fatigue and reduced need of insulin among women with gestational diabetes mellitus who did resistance exercise, with no adverse effects on fetus or the pregnant woman.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of regular light -to-moderate resistance exercise among sedentary pregnant woman, with regard to fatigue, health related quality of life, pain location and intensity, body weight gain, blood pressure, and childbirth outcomes.

Study Overview

• Status: Terminated
• Conditions: Sedentary Lifestyle; Pregnancy Related
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Resistance exercise

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 120
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Sweden
  • Karlstad, Sweden, 65224
    • Fysioterapimottagningen Gripen

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Single pregnancy and ≥18 of age
• Ability to understand verbal and written Swedish
• Inclusion during gestational week 20+0-20+6.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Follows the recommendation regarding contraindications according to the American Collage of Obstetricians and Gynecologists 2002
• Severe pain from the pelvic or the back
• Regular exercise >150 minutes per week the last six months

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control group
Experimental: Exercise group; Resistance exercise twice a week	Behavioral: Resistance exercise; Resistance exercise twice a week during pregnancy week 23-34.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in fatigue	Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) 0-100 millimeters. It is a psychometric scale and measure self-reported fatigue from 0, "no fatigue" to 100, "very great fatigue". The scale is a streight horizontal line.	Register at gestational week 22 and 34

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in anxiety / depression	Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) 0-100 millimeters. It is a psychometric scale and measure self-reported anxiety/depression from 0, "no anxiety/depression" to 100, "very great anxiety/depression". The scale is a streight horizontal line.	Register at gestational week 22 and 34
Change in pain	Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) 0-100 millimeters. It is a psychometric scale and measure the intensity of pain from 0, "none pain" to 100, "extreme amount of pain". The scale is a streight horizontal line.	Register at gestational week 22 and 34
Change in Health Related Quality of Life	Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS). Mark health status on the day on a 20 centimeters vertical scale with end points of 0 and 100. There are notes at the both ends of the scale that the bottom rate (0) corresponds to " the worst health you can imagine", and the highest rate (100) corresponds to "the best health you can imagine".	Register at gestational week 22 and 34
Change in blood pressure	Systolic and Diastolic	From perinatal records. Registered at gestational week 22 and 34
Change in weight gain	kilogram	from perinatal records. Registered at gestational week 22 and 34
Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM)	Development of GDM	from perinatal records. Registered at gestational week 34
Change in exercise	Minutes a day. (Walks, light, moderate, vigorous intensity).	Registered at gestational week 22 and 34
Birth weight	kilogram	from perinatal records at birth (gestational week 40)
Birth length	centimeters	from perinatal records at birth (gestational week 40)
Gestational age	days	From perinatal records at birth (gestational week 40)
Acute cesarean section	rate	from perinatal records at birth (gestational week 40)
Macrosomia	rate of birth with macrosomia	from perinatal records at birth (gestational week 40)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Värmland County Council, Sweden

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 5, 2018
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 15, 2025
• Study Completion (Actual): April 15, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 3, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 10, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): October 15, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 17, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 15, 2025
• Last Verified: September 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: randomized controlled trial; exercise; pregnancy; public health
• Other Study ID Numbers: 2018/246

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No