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Exercise in Pregnancy and Risk of Postpartum Depression

F

Federico II University

Status

Enrolling

Conditions

Pregnancy Related
Depression

Treatments

Behavioral: exercise in pregnancy

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

Details and patient eligibility

About

The prevalence of postpartum depression (PPD) varies between 11.9% and 19.2% during the perinatal period. PPD refers to minor and major depression incidents that occur during pregnancy or shortly after (up until 12 months after birth). The symptoms of PPD embrace feeling sad or having a depressed mood, being uninterested in the new-born, unreasonable crying and fear of injuring or harming the baby. Consequently, PPD can negatively impact the mother's well-being and the baby's development. The impact on a child can be short for cognitive and motor development . Although medication is a feasible alternative, many women have constraints due to continuing breastfeeding. Therefore, exercise can be an alternative that could help to deal with PPD. Exercise can be used as a preventive or treatment of mild depression at an early stage and as an addition to a treatment plan for major depressive disorder. Exercising during pregnancy and postpartum improves psychological health and also benefits physical fitness, weight gain control and the prevention or reduction of musculoskeletal discomfort and pain. Therefore, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists has recommended that women during pregnancy and postpartum engage in moderate-intensity physical activity almost every day for 30 min a day

Full description

The prevalence of postpartum depression (PPD) varies between 11.9% and 19.2% during the perinatal period. PPD refers to minor and major depression incidents that occur during pregnancy or shortly after (up until 12 months after birth). The symptoms of PPD embrace feeling sad or having a depressed mood, being uninterested in the new-born, unreasonable crying and fear of injuring or harming the baby. Consequently, PPD can negatively impact the mother's well-being and the baby's development. The impact on a child can be short for cognitive and motor development . Although medication is a feasible alternative, many women have constraints due to continuing breastfeeding. Therefore, exercise can be an alternative that could help to deal with PPD. Exercise can be used as a preventive or treatment of mild depression at an early stage and as an addition to a treatment plan for major depressive disorder. Exercising during pregnancy and postpartum improves psychological health and also benefits physical fitness, weight gain control and the prevention or reduction of musculoskeletal discomfort and pain. Therefore, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists has recommended that women during pregnancy and postpartum engage in moderate-intensity physical activity almost every day for 30 min a day

Enrollment

398 estimated patients

Sex

Female

Ages

20 to 40 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

  • singleton gestation
  • low risk pregnancy
  • age between 20 and 40

Exclusion criteria

  • high risk pregnancy
  • multiple gestation
  • prior post partum depression
  • any psychiatric disase
  • controindication for exercise
  • lung or heart disease
  • prior preterm birth
  • IVF pregnancy
  • women who already perform agonistic sport activity

Trial design

Primary purpose

Prevention

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Parallel Assignment

Masking

None (Open label)

398 participants in 2 patient groups

exercise
Active Comparator group
Description:
aerobic exercise during pregnancy
Treatment:
Behavioral: exercise in pregnancy
no exercise
No Intervention group
Description:
no recommendation regarding exercise

Trial contacts and locations

1

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Central trial contact

Gabriele Saccone, MD

Data sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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