Promoting Stretching Exercise to Reduce Cardiovascular Health Risk in Late Pregnant Women With Obesity

University of North Carolina (UNC)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pregnancy Related; Obesity; Cardiovascular Risk Factor

Treatments: Behavioral: Stretching Exercise Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT04291560

18-3091

1R01NR017944-01A1 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this trial is to determine whether a stretching intervention is superior to a usual care control condition (moderate/vigorous activity 30 minutes daily, 5 days per week) for pregnant women from 27 to 37 gestational weeks.

Full description

Although being sedentary can lead to excess risk for maternal and child mortality and morbidity, most pregnant women reduce their physical activity and only 8% meet the recommendations in the 3rd trimester.

In a prior randomized control trial, it was found that fewer women who stretched developed preeclampsia than did women who walked (3/60 "stretchers" vs. 10/64 "walkers", p=.05).

In this study, participants will either receive a stretching intervention

Enrollment: 224 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Pregnant at less than 24 weeks gestation
• Singleton pregnancy
• BMI ≥ 30 kg/m^2 at their first prenatal care visit
• English or Spanish speaking

Exclusion criteria

• Women who expect or are scheduled to deliver prior to 37 weeks gestation
• Women who expect to move from the area during their participation in the study
• Women who are unable to exercise for 30 or more minutes 3 times per week

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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224 participants in 2 patient groups

Prenatal Heart Smart Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

This group will have usual care completed and supportive calls from a facilitator to discuss adherence to the home exercise. In addition, the group will complete a sequential static stretching exercise 5 days per week for 10 weeks. The stretching exercise consists of 20 seconds of stretching, for 3 repetitions per muscle group.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Stretching Exercise Intervention

Usual Care (Control)

No Intervention group

Description:

This group will have usual care completed and supportive calls from a facilitator to discuss adherence to the home exercise. In addition, this group will complete moderate-intensity walking 5 days per week for 10 weeks in accordance to usual care.