Influence of a Concurrent Exercise Training Program on Health-Related Quality of Life During Advanced Pregnancy: The GESTAFIT Project

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) may be altered during pregnancy due to pregnancy-related changes in all domains of women’s health. Hypothesis: A supervised concurrent exercise-training program from the 17th gestational week until birth positively influences HRQoL. Study Design: Randomized controlled trial. Level of Evidence: Level 1. Methods: Eighty-six pregnant women (age, 33.1 ± 4.6 years; prepregnancy body mass index, 23.5 kg/m 2 ), divided into exercise (n = 41) and control (n = 45) groups, participated in this study (per-protocol basis). The exercise group followed a 60-min, 3 days/week, concurrent (aerobic + resistance) exercise training program. HRQoL was assessed with the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), where higher scores (0-100) indicate better HRQoL. Results: After adjusting for potential confounders, the exercise group decreased 16.1 points less than the control group in the SF-36 physical functioning domain [between-group differences (B): 95% confidence interval (CI), 9.02 to 23.22; P < 0.01], and 4.5 points less in the SF-36 physical component summary than the control group (between-group differences (B): 95% CI, 0.65 to 8.28; P = 0.02). Intention-to-treat basis analyses depicted similar results, where the exercise group decreased 10.03 points less than the control group the in the SF-36 social functioning domain (between-group differences (B): 95% CI, 0.39 to 19.68; P = 0.04). Conclusion: A supervised concurrent exercise training program ameliorates HRQoL decreases along gestation. Although HRQoL decreased throughout pregnancy in both groups, this impact was less in the exercise group, especially in the SF-36 physical functioning, the SF-36 social functioning, and the SF-36 physical component summary. Clinical Relevance: Healthcare providers may encourage pregnant women to exercise in this physiological stage for a better HRQoL throughout pregnancy. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02582567; Date of registration: 20/10/2015