The influence of exercise during pregnancy on racial/ethnic health disparities and birth outcomes

Abstract

Background Non-Hispanic black (NHB) pregnant women disproportionately experience adverse birth outcomes compared to Non-Hispanic white (NHW) pregnant women. The positive effects of prenatal exercise on maternal and neonatal health may mitigate these disparities. This study evaluated the influence of prenatal exercise on racial/ethnic disparities in gestational age (GA), birthweight (BW), and risks of preterm birth (PTB), cesarean section (CS), and low-birthweight (LBW) neonates. Methods This study performed a secondary data analysis using data from a 24-week, two-arm exercise intervention trial (ENHANCED by Mom). Women with singleton pregnancies (< 16 weeks), aged 18–40 years, BMI between 18.5–34.99 kg/m2, and no preexisting health conditions were eligible. The aerobic exercisers (EX) participated in 150 min of moderate-intensity weekly exercise while non-exercising controls (CON) attended low-intensity stretching/breathing sessions. Data on GA, PTB (< 37 weeks), BW, LBW (< 2.5 kg), and delivery mode were collected. Poisson, median and linear regressions were performed. Results Participants with complete data (n = 125) were eligible for analyses (EX: n = 58, CON: n = 67). NHB pregnant women delivered lighter neonates (β = − 0.43 kg, 95% CI: − 0.68, − 0.18, p = 0.001). After adjusting for prenatal exercise, racial/ethnic disparities in BW were reduced (β = − 0.39 kg, 95% CI: − 0.65, − 0.13, p = 0.004). Prenatal exercise reduced borderline significant racial/ethnic disparities in PTB (p = 0.053) and GA (p = 0.07) with no effects found for CS and LBW. Conclusions The findings of this study demonstrate that prenatal exercise may attenuate the racial/ethnic disparities observed in neonatal BW, and possibly GA and PTB. Larger, diverse samples and inclusion of maternal biomarkers (e.g., cytokines) are encouraged to further evaluate these relationships.

Exercise FITT‐V during pregnancy: Association with birth outcomes

“…In addition, higher weight and lower length in BIPOC offspring increased weight: length ratio. However, in agreement with previous findings, exercise during appears to mitigate interracial disparities in birth outcomes (Raper et al, 2021).…”

“…These findings coupled with multiple significant correlations with other markers of morphometrics, as well as placental volume and efficiency confirm that increasing exercise intensity benefits pregnancy and fetal growth (Bø et al, 2016;Siebel et al, 2012;Yu et al, 2022). This information aligns with a systematic review and meta-analysis (Perales et al, 2016;Raper et al, 2021) which showed that vigorous intensity maternal exercise significantly increases gestational length and reduces risk of prematurity (Beetham et al, 2019).…”

Influence of Physical Activity during Pregnancy on Birth Weight: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…There were a total of 61 studies that were incorporated in this analysis [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 ,…”

“…This analysis comprised a total of 16 studies [ 27 , 31 , 33 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 48 , 52 , 57 , 66 , 69 , 72 , 73 , 75 , 76 , 83 ]. There was no statistically significant association (z = 1.25; p = 0.21) between physical activity during pregnancy and the likelihood of low birth weight (RR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.65, 1.10, I 2 = 9%, P heterogeneity = 0.35).…”

“… Effect of exercise during pregnancy on low birth weight [ 27 , 31 , 33 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 48 , 52 , 57 , 66 , 69 , 72 , 73 , 75 , 76 , 83 ]. …”