Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 30;19(17):10791.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710791.

Aerobic or Resistance Exercise for Improved Glycaemic Control and Pregnancy Outcomes in Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review

Niamh Keating  1 , Ciara Coveney  2 , Fionnuala M McAuliffe  1 , Mary F Higgins  1
Affiliations

Aerobic or Resistance Exercise for Improved Glycaemic Control and Pregnancy Outcomes in Women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review

Niamh Keating et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Exercise is often recommended in addition to diet and medication in the management of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Our aim was to determine if strength training compared with aerobic exercise had an impact on glycaemic control, maternal and neonatal outcomes. The Cochrane library, Embase, PubMed, CINAHL, Medline, Google Scholar, and OpenGrey were searched. Over 758 pregnant women (mother-baby pairs) from 14 studies are included in this systematic review. Interventions ranged from cycling, aerobic exercises, walking, yoga, or combined aerobic and resistance exercises. Of the studies identified, none directly compared aerobic exercise with strength training. Half of the studies showed benefit in glycaemic control with additional exercise compared with usual physical activity. There was largely no impact on obstetric or neonatal outcomes. Studies on exercise in GDM have reiterated the safety of exercise in pregnancy and shown mixed effects on maternal glycaemic control, with no apparent impact on pregnancy outcomes. The heterogenicity of reported studies make it difficult to make specific recommendations on the optimum exercise modality for the management of GDM. The use of a core outcome set for GDM may improve reporting of studies on the role of exercise in its management.

Keywords: aerobic; exercise; gestational diabetes; pregnancy; strength.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Mary Higgins declares a potential conflict of interest as she is an Editor of this special issue in Maternal Medicine for the journal.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow of studies through the systematic searching of the literature.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Diabetes Association 14. Management of Diabetes in Pregnancy: Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes-2021. Diabetes Care. 2021;44((Suppl. 1)):S200–S210. - PubMed
    1. Cho N.H., Shaw J.E., Karuranga S., Huang Y., da Rocha Fernandes J.D., Ohlrogge A.W., Malanda B. IDF Diabetes Atlas: Global estimates of diabetes prevalence for 2017 and projections for 2045. Diabetes Res. Clin. Pract. 2018;138:271–281. - PubMed
    1. Khalifeh A., Breathnach F., Coulter-Smith S., Robson M., Fitzpatrick C., Malone F. Changing trends in diabetes mellitus in pregnancy. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. 2014;34:135–137. doi: 10.3109/01443615.2013.830596. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Egan A.M., Dennedy M.C., Al-Ramli W., Heerey A., Avalos G., Dunne F. ATLANTIC-DIP: Excessive gestational weight gain and pregnancy outcomes in women with gestational or pregestational diabetes mellitus. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 2014;99:212–219. - PubMed
    1. Bogdanet D., Egan A., Reddin C., Kirwan B., Carmody L., Dunne F. ATLANTIC DIP: Despite insulin therapy in women with IADPSG diagnosed GDM, desired pregnancy outcomes are still not achieved. What are we missing? Diabetes Res. Clin. Pract. 2018;136:116–123. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources