Exercise during pregnancy 'may cause pre-eclampsia'
Exercise during pregnancy 'may cause pre-eclampsia'
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Wednesday, 03, Dec 2008 01:16
Too much exercise in early pregnancy may cause pre-eclampsia, new research claims.
A report published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology today women with high levels of physical activity – classified as over 270 minutes a week - were associated with increased risks compared with non-exercising women.
As way of explanation, the authors suggest that intense physical activity induces oxidative stress in the mother and this in turn contributes to the development of pre-eclampsia.
Researchers studied some 85,000 women enrolled at the Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC) between 1996 and 2002 and found physical inactivity was more common in younger women, those who were underweight or obese, smokers, women with more than one child and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Those who engaged in moderate to low exercise levels (less than 270 minutes a week) showed no association with severe pre-eclampsia.
Cycling and brisk walking over long durations was associated with an increased risk as was 75 to 269 minutes a week jogging. However, as with those who undertook high levels of physical activity, the absolute level of risk was small.
"Recommendations have been issued in several countries that pregnant women should exercise at least 30 minutes each day," the authors state.
"An important underlying contention is that this can reduce risk of pre-eclampsia. In our study, we were unable to substantiate that physical activity in early pregnancy has a protective effect against pre-eclampsia.
"Another unexpected finding was that leisure time exercise, in amounts that were only slightly higher than the recommended amount, seemed even to be associated with an increased risk of severe types of pre-eclampsia."
Professor Philip Steer, BJOG editor-in-chief, added that while general fitness was a good thing in many respects for pregnant women, "these data suggest that it may be unwise to exercise to peak fitness levels".
"This new research is useful as it provides us with an indication of how much exercise pregnant women should take. As with everything in life, too much of a good thing can be bad for you, and moderation in all things remains a good policy."