Effect of aerobic exercise on fetal outcomes in diabetic pregnant women / Fatima Alzahraa Mohammad Elsaied Taha Elbeliedy ; Supervised Adly Ali Heidar Sabbour , Abeer Mohamed Eldeeb , Amir Arabi Gabr

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Physical Therapy for Gynecology and Obstetrics

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of aerobic exercise on fetal outcomes including gestational age, babies{u2019} weight, length, head circumference, chest circumference, abdominal circumference and Apgar score 1 and 2. Thirty gestational diabetic women participated in this study.Their age ranged from 20 to 35 years old and their body mass index was >30kg/ m2 and <34.9 kg/ m2. They were randomly distributed into two groups. The control group received insulin therapy and diet instructions, while the exercise group received the same treatment and aerobic exercise in the form of treadmill training for 30 minutes/day for 3 times /week. Results: Comparing both groups post-intervention, results revealed that there were statistically non-significant differences in the gestational age (p=0.48), babies' length (p= 0.86), head circumference (p= 0.15), chest circumference (p= 0.09), and Apgar score 1 (p= 0.051). However, there was statistically significant decrease in babies' weight (p=0.003), and abdominal circumference (p= 0.001), as well as statistically significant increase in Apgar score 2 (p= 0.02). It could be concluded that aerobic exercise led to improvements in the fetal outcomes without producing any harmful effects to infants of gestational diabetic pregnant women

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