The effects of exercise intervention on complications and pregnancy outcomes in pregnant women with overweight or obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Being overweight or obese is closely related to adverse pregnancy outcomes and harms both pregnant women and neonates, increasing complications during pregnancy and leading to adverse pregnancy outcomes. Consequently, a meta-analysis was done to investigate exercise therapy impact on the complications and outcomes of pregnant women who are obese or overweight. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The computer system searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, Wanfang, EMBASE, and CNKI databases. The search duration extended from the database establishment until October 2022. A thorough search was carried out for pertinent studies investigating exercise therapy impact on pregnancy complications and outcomes in obese or overweight pregnant women. The heterogeneity test was carried out using Cochrane Q and Chi-square tests. The combined findings from the meta-analysis were examined for reliability and robustness using sensitivity and publication bias analyses. All statistics used RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS: This meta-analysis included data from 8026 patients from 22 randomized controlled trials. The results demonstrated that exercise therapy might successfully decrease the incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) (odds ratio [OR] = 0.85, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.74–0.96, P = .01) and macrosomia (OR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.68–0.89, P < .001), and control weight gain during pregnancy (SMD = −0.2, 95% CI: −0.31 to −0.08, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Exercise therapy can control weight gain during pregnancy, lower the incidence of GDM and the macrosomia rate, and improve adverse pregnancy outcomes.