Objective To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of physical exercise in terms of maternal/perinatal outcomes and the perception of quality of life (QoL) in pregnant obese and overweight women.Design A randomised controlled clinical trial.Setting The Prenatal Outpatient Clinic of the Women's Integral Healthcare Centre (CAISM-UNICAMP) at the University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.Population Eighty-two pregnant women (age ‡ 18 years; pre-gestational body mass index ‡ 26 kg/m 2 ; gestational age 14-24 weeks).Methods Women were randomised into two groups: women in one group exercised under supervision and received home exercise counselling (the 'study group'; n = 40) and women in the other group followed the routine prenatal care programme (the 'control group'; n = 42).Main outcome measures Primary outcomes were gestational weight gain during the programme and excessive maternal weight gain. Secondary outcomes were increased arterial blood pressure, perinatal outcomes and QoL (WHOQOL-BREF).Results In the study group, 47% of pregnant women had weight gains above the recommended limit, compared with 57% of women in the control group (P = 0.43). There was no difference in gestational weight gain between the groups. Overweight pregnant women who exercised gained less weight during the entire pregnancy (10.0 ± 1.7 kg versus 16.4 ± 3.9 kg, respectively; P = 0.001) and after entry into the study (5.9 ± 4.3 kg versus 11.9 ± 1.5 kg, respectively; P = 0.021) compared with women in the control group. Arterial blood pressure was similar between the groups over time. There was no difference in perinatal outcome or QoL.Conclusions The exercise programme was not associated with control of gestational weight gain in our sample as a whole, but was beneficial for lower gestational weight gain in overweight women. Exercise was not associated with adverse perinatal outcomes and did not affect variation in arterial blood pressure or the perception of QoL.Keywords Body mass index, exercise, obesity, pregnancy, quality of life.Please cite this paper as: Nascimento S, Surita F, Parpinelli M, Siani S, Pinto e Silva J. The effect of an antenatal physical exercise programme on maternal/perinatal outcomes and quality of life in overweight and obese pregnant women: a randomised clinical trial.

BackgroundThe vast majority of maternal deaths in low-and middle-income countries are preventable. Delay in obtaining access to appropriate health care is a fairly common problem which can be improved. The objective of this study was to explore the association between delay in providing obstetric health care and severe maternal morbidity/death.MethodsThis was a multicentre cross-sectional study, involving 27 referral obstetric facilities in all Brazilian regions between 2009 and 2010. All women admitted to the hospital with a pregnancy-related cause were screened, searching for potentially life-threatening conditions (PLTC), maternal death (MD) and maternal near-miss (MNM) cases, according to the WHO criteria. Data on delays were collected by medical chart review and interview with the medical staff. The prevalence of the three different types of delays was estimated according to the level of care and outcome of the complication. For factors associated with any delay, the PR and 95%CI controlled for cluster design were estimated.ResultsA total of 82,144 live births were screened, with 9,555 PLTC, MNM or MD cases prospectively identified. Overall, any type of delay was observed in 53.8% of cases; delay related to user factors was observed in 10.2%, 34.6% of delays were related to health service accessibility and 25.7% were related to quality of medical care. The occurrence of any delay was associated with increasing severity of maternal outcome: 52% in PLTC, 68.4% in MNM and 84.1% in MD.ConclusionsAlthough this was not a population-based study and the results could not be generalized, there was a very clear and significant association between frequency of delay and severity of outcome, suggesting that timely and proper management are related to survival.

ObjectivesTo validate the WHO maternal near-miss criteria and develop a benchmark tool for severe maternal morbidity assessments.MethodsIn a multicenter cross-sectional study implemented in 27 referral maternity hospitals in Brazil, a one-year prospective surveillance on severe maternal morbidity and data collection was carried out. Diagnostic accuracy tests were used to assess the validity of the WHO maternal near-miss criteria. Binary logistic regression was used to model the death probability among women with severe maternal complications and benchmark the management of severe maternal morbidity.ResultsOf the 82,388 women having deliveries in the participating health facilities, 9,555 women presented pregnancy-related complications, including 140 maternal deaths and 770 maternal near misses. The WHO maternal near-miss criteria were found to be accurate and highly associated with maternal deaths (Positive likelihood ratio 106.8 (95% CI 99.56–114.6)). The maternal severity index (MSI) model was developed and found to able to describe the relationship between life-threatening conditions and mortality (Area under the ROC curve: 0.951 (95% CI 0.909–0.993)).ConclusionThe identification of maternal near-miss cases using the WHO list of pregnancy-related life-threatening conditions was validated. The MSI model can be used as a tool for benchmarking the performance of health services managing women with severe maternal complications and provide case-mix adjustment.

BackgroundThe study of severe maternal morbidity survivors (near miss) may be an alternative or a complement to the study of maternal death events as a health care indicator. However, there is still controversy regarding the criteria for identification of near-miss maternal morbidity. This study aimed to characterize the near miss maternal morbidity according to different sets of criteria.MethodsA descriptive study in a tertiary center including 2,929 women who delivered there between July 2003 and June 2004. Possible cases of near miss were daily screened by checking different sets of criteria proposed elsewhere. The main outcome measures were: rate of near miss and its primary determinant factors, criteria for its identification, total hospital stay, ICU stay, and number and kind of special procedures performed.ResultsThere were two maternal deaths and 124 cases of near miss were identified, with 102 of them admitted to the ICU (80.9%). Among the 126 special procedures performed, the most frequent were central venous access, echocardiography and invasive mechanical ventilation. The mean hospital stay was 10.3 (± 13.24) days. Hospital stay and the number of special procedures performed were significantly higher when the organ dysfunction based criteria were applied.ConclusionThe adoption of a two level screening strategy may lead to the development of a consistent severe maternal morbidity surveillance system but further research is needed before worldwide near miss criteria can be assumed.

On the basis of narratives of women who almost died during pregnancy and childbirth, we reported on an acute stress disorder that may be associated with the occurrence of severe maternal complications, which we named, the "maternal near-miss syndrome." The implementation of integrated care that encompasses the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of women's health may help to alleviate the burden that maternal complications impose on millions of women around the world.