Background Pregnant women without complications are advised to engage in physical activity (PA) to mitigate adverse outcomes. Differences may exist among pregnant women of diverging diabetes status in meeting national PA recommendations. We sought to examine differences in aerobic activity (AA) and muscle strengthening activity (MSA) by diabetes risk status (DRS) among pregnant women in the United States. Methods The sample (n = 9,597) included pregnant women, age 18–44 years, who participated in the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Levels of DRS include: no diabetes (ND), high risk for diabetes (HRD) due to self-reported gestational diabetes or pre-diabetes, and overt diabetes due to self-reported, clinically diagnosed diabetes (DM). Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for meeting PA recommendations were obtained. Covariates included age, race, education, household child count, alcohol consumption, and smoking status. Results Findings revealed that on average, DM had 46.5 fewer minutes of weekly AA compared to ND. Furthermore, a significantly lower OR (0.39; CI 0.19–0.82) for meeting both recommendations was observed in DM as compared to ND after adjustment. Conclusions We observed that pregnant women with overt diabetes had a lower odds of engaging in PA, while those at high risk were similar in their PA engagement to ND. Future studies aimed at assessing determinants of PA behavior may help guide efforts to promote exercise in pregnant women with diabetes.

Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is associated with adverse health outcomes during pregnancy and beyond. Previous randomized controlled trials of exercise interventions have demonstrated that exercise, conducted primarily during supervised sessions, improves maternal glycemic control in women with GDM. However, additional research is needed to develop physical activity interventions that are easily implemented in healthcare settings (e.g., recommendations and strategies to increase non-supervised physical activity). This narrative review presents: current physical activity recommendations for pregnancy and women with GDM; the scientific literature to date on physical activity, particularly walking, and blood glucose control in GDM; rationale for physical activity interventions targeting women with GDM that are appropriate for translation to the clinical setting (e.g., lifestyle interventions that include behavioral counseling with a health coach); and the strategies employed by previous, successful lifestyle interventions for pregnant and postpartum women that were based in clinical settings.Most previous exercise interventions for blood glucose control in women with GDM have included supervised exercise sessions, and will thus be difficult to translate to the health care system. However, lifestyle interventions for weight maintenance (i.e., healthy diet and physical activity) set in the health care system and delivered by health coaches have been successfully implemented in pregnant and postpartum populations. Therefore, we suggest that future trials examine lifestyle interventions that promote unsupervised walking with evidence-based behavioral strategies (e.g., goal setting, monitoring, and feedback) and consider incorporating the use of physical activity tracking devices to support these strategies.

Introduction: There is limited evidence examining the relationship between elevated serum uric acid (sUA) concentration and heart failure (HF) in United States (US) adults. The aim of the present study was to examine the association(s) between elevated sUA and HF using a nationally representative sample of US adults. Methods: The final sample with complete data for this analysis (n = 17,349) included men and women aged ≥40 years who participated in the 2007–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Self-reported diagnosis of HF was assessed via interview. Elevated sUA was defined as values >6.0 mg/dL for women and >7.2 mg/dL for men. Multivariable gender-stratified logistic regression was utilized to examine the odds of self-reported HF. Results: The estimated prevalence of HF was 3.9 and 3.4% among men and women, respectively. Age-adjusted analysis revealed significantly increased odds of HF in men (OR 2.79; 95% CI 2.15–3.84, p < 0.01) and women (OR 3.24; 95% CI 2.37–4.44, p < 0.01) with elevated sUA. This relationship remained statistically significant following adjustment for age, race, education, income, alcohol consumption, smoking status, blood pressure, diabetes, physical activity level, cholesterol, creatinine level, and body mass index in men (OR 1.70; 95% CI 1.13–2.57 p < 0.05) and women (OR 1.74; 95% CI 1.18–2.58, p < 0.05). Conclusions: In a representative sample of US adults, having an elevated sUA concentration was associated with significantly increased odds of HF when compared to adults with normal sUA.

Coronavirus disease 2019 , the disease caused by the novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), during pregnancy poses an increased risk of severe maternal illness and death. 1 As compared with individuals with uninfected pregnancies, infection with COVID-19 during pregnancy increases the risk for preterm birth 2-4 and preterm birth via cesarean 3,5 ; premature rupture of membranes 5 ; lower neonatal Apgar score 5 ; venous thromboembolism 3 ; severe maternal morbidity 3 ; and maternal mortality. 1,2 Scientific evidence supporting the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy continues to accumulate, with the evidence to date overwhelmingly suggesting the three COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States are safe and effective during pregnancy, and that vaccination reduces the risk of adverse obstetric outcomes. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]