WASHINGTON — Physical activity during the pregnancy of previously inactive women is associated with a lower risk for gestational diabetes, according to a review of women in the National Maternal and Infant Health Survey.
In the study of 3,770 women without diabetes who reported being physically inactive before their singleton pregnancy, Jihong Liu, Sc.D., and her associates at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, found that a significantly lower percentage of women who were physically active during pregnancy had gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) than did those who remained inactive (1.5% vs. 4.2%).
About 14% of the women who were previously inactive began physical activity after they learned of their pregnancy.
The women who were classified as physically active during pregnancy were 72% less likely to develop GDM than were those who were inactive, Dr. Liu reported in a poster at the annual scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association.
The comparison was statistically adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, education, parity, smoking status, bed rest, and prepregnancy body mass index. The study results were weighted to achieve a nationally representative sample.