EFFECT OF EXERCISE TRAINING ON HEART RATE AND BLOOD PRESSURE IN PREGNANCY: A RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL

Few women are physically active during pregnancy and few clinical trials have been carried out regarding exercise training and cardiovascular changes in pregnancy. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of regular exercise during pregnancy on heart rate and blood pressure.

In this randomized clinical trial, there were 32 healthy pregnant women in the 24- 26 weeks of gestational age in 3 intervention groups and 10 healthy pregnant women in the control group. This study was implemented in Shahid Akbarabadi hospital of Tehran in 2018-19. The intervention groups completed 8 weeks of aerobic, resistant, and combined training with moderate intensity. The pregnant women did blood pressure and fetal heart rate measurement and aerobic and resistant exercise tests before and after training. Coupled t-test, Mann Whitney U, Wilcoxon, ANOVA, and Kruskal Wallis were used to analyze the data.

According to study results, mean of heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were less in trained pregnant women by 34th week of pregnancy than control group (p<0.05). Also by 34-36 weeks of pregnancy, fetal heart rate in trained pregnant women was less than control group (p<0.05). There were no meaningful differences among training groups regarding heart rate and blood pressure by 34-36 weeks of pregnancy (p>0.05).

Exercise training could improve maternal and fetal heart rate and blood pressure.