Influence of Physical Exercise on Endothelial Function in Pregnant Women

Universidad del Valle, Colombia

Status and phase

Completed

Phase 2

Phase 1

Conditions

Preeclampsia

Exercise

Pregnancy

Treatments

Behavioral: Regular aerobic physical exercise

Behavioral: Activities of daily living

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT00741312

182-07

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of regular aerobic exercise on endothelial function in pregnancy.

Full description

Preeclampsia is a common maternal disease that complicates 5% to 10% of pregnancies and remains as the major cause of maternal and neonatal mortality, especially in developing countries. Cost-effective interventions aimed to prevent the development of preeclampsia are urgently needed. Ethiopathogenesis of preeclampsia involves multiple mechanisms as oxidative stress, endothelial dysfunction, infections, maternal constitutional factors, and others. Regular aerobic exercise recovers endothelial function, decreases oxidative stress and improves maternal constitutional factors.

The purpose of this Controlled Clinical Trial is to determine the effect of regular aerobic exercise on endothelium-dependent brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation. Furthermore, the effect of exercise on biomarkers on vascular function and perinatal outcomes will be evaluated.

Enrollment

64 estimated patients

Sex

Female

Ages

16 to 30 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Primiparous women who have not participated in a structured exercise program, including significant amounts of walking for the past four months are eligible for the trial.
Live foetus at the routine ultrasound scan and a normal pregnancy.
Gestational age 16 to 20 weeks
Written informed consent will be obtained from each woman prior to the inclusion in the study.

Exclusion criteria

History of high blood pressure
Chronic medical illnesses (cancer, renal, endocrinologic, psychiatric, neurologic, infectious and cardiovascular diseases)
Persistent bleeding after week 12 of gestation
Poorly controlled thyroid disease
Placenta praevia, incompetent cervix, polyhydramnios, oligohydramnios
History of miscarriage in the last twelve months
Diseases that could interfere with participation (following recommendations from ACSM 2000, ACOG 2003).