Exercise intervention greatly improves blood sugar in pregnant women with gestational diabetes
China: Original Gymnastics for Pregnant Women program versus conventional intervention for women with gestational diabetes is tied to greater improvements in blood sugar levels during pregnancy and postpartum, research claims. However, it does not affect delivery outcomes. The study appears in International Journal of Nursing Studies.
About millions of pregnant women are affected by gestational daibetes mellitus. Lifestyle intervention is recommended as the first-line treatment in which exercise plays a crucial role. Safe and effective exercise is needed to facilitate glycemic control and improve delivery outcomes.
Considering the above, Ying Jin, Women's Hospital School of Medicine Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, and the team aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of the original Gymnastics for Pregnant Women program for glycaemic control and delivery outcomes improvement in women with gestational diabetes in a a two-arm parallel randomized controlled clinical trial.
The study was performed in a tertiary specialized maternity hospital in Hangzhou, China. A total of 131 eligible pregnant women were enrolled from June to December 2020. They were randomly allocated to the control group (conventional intervention) or experimental group that engaged in the original Gymnastics for Pregnant Women program.
Glyemic control during pregnancy and postpartum were the primary outcomes. Secondary outcomes included adverse events, maternal and neonatal outcomes.
The findings of the study were as follows:
- Participants showed a significant improvement in glycaemic control after engaging in the intervention for 2 weeks; the improvement was most significant in terms of the 2-h postprandial plasma glucose.
- The fasting blood glucose and 2-h postprandial plasma glucose data indicated a higher glycaemic control rate in the experimental than control group (86.16% vs. 66.67% and 84.62% vs. 36.36% respectively).
- After delivery, the 2-h oral glucose tolerance test results indicated better glycaemic control in the experimental than control group (75.44% vs. 57.41%).
- The 2-h oral glucose tolerance test in the experimental group with reasonable exercise frequency (≥ 10 times per week) had the best glucose level (6.81 ± 1.30 mmol/L), followed by the experimental group with a lower exercise frequency (< 10 times per week) (7.35 ± 1.83 mmol/L) and the control group (7.79 ± 2.03 mmol/L).
- No statistical differences in maternal or neonatal outcomes were observed between the control and experimental groups.
- There were no adverse events in the experimental group; however, in the control group, two cases experienced at least one hypoglycemic episode and two cases received insulin during the study period.
To conclude, the original Gymnastics for Pregnant Women was linked to greater improvements in blood glucose levels during pregnancy and postpartum compared with a conventional intervention for women with gestational diabetes mellitus.
Reference:
Jin, Ying, et al. "Effects of the Original Gymnastics for Pregnant Women Program On Glycaemic Control and Delivery Outcomes in Women With Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: a Randomized Controlled Trial." International Journal of Nursing Studies, vol. 132, 2022, p. 104271.
