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Effects of Aerobic Exercise during Pregnancy on 1-Month Infant Neuromotor Skills
Amy Gross McMillan1, Linda E May2, Georgeanna Gower Gaines1
1Department of Physical Therapy, College of Allied Health Sciences, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.
Insights
Prenatal aerobic exercise positively impacts infant neuromotor development. Infants born to exercising mothers showed improved motor skills at one month, suggesting potential benefits for reducing childhood obesity risk.
Area of Science:
- Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Pediatrics
- Developmental Neuroscience
Background:
- Maternal physical activity during pregnancy is a modifiable factor influencing fetal development.
- Understanding the impact of exercise on infant neuromotor skills is crucial for long-term health outcomes.
- Previous research suggests potential benefits of maternal exercise, but specific effects on early neuromotor development require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of supervised aerobic exercise during pregnancy on the neuromotor development of 1-month-old infants.
- To test the hypothesis that maternal aerobic exercise is associated with enhanced neuromotor scores in newborns.
- To assess infant motor skills using standardized pediatric assessments.
Main Methods:
- A randomized controlled trial involving 71 healthy pregnant women aged 18-35 years.
- Intervention group: 50 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, three times weekly.
- Control group: maintained usual activity levels. Infant neuromotor skills assessed at 1 month using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, 2nd Edition (PDMS-2).
Main Results:
- Infants of mothers in the exercise group demonstrated significantly higher PDMS-2 scores in four out of five analyzed variables compared to the control group.
- A trend for improved scores was observed in female infants of non-exercising mothers, which was less pronounced in infants of exercising mothers.
- The study indicates a positive association between maternal exercise and infant neuromotor performance.
Conclusions:
- Exercise during pregnancy positively influences fetal development, leading to enhanced neuromotor skills in infants.
- Infants born to mothers who exercised during pregnancy are more adept at movement, potentially impacting future physical activity levels.
- These findings suggest that maternal exercise may be a strategy to mitigate the risk of childhood obesity by promoting early motor development.
Purpose:
To determine the effects of exercise during pregnancy on the neuromotor development of 1-month-old offspring. We hypothesized that aerobic exercise during pregnancy would be associated with higher neuromotor scores in infants at 1 month of age, based on standard pediatric assessment of neuromotor skills.
Methods:
Seventy-one healthy, pregnant women between 18 and 35 yr were randomly assigned to either aerobic exercise intervention or no exercise (control) group. Women in the exercise group performed 50 min of moderate-intensity, supervised aerobic exercise, three times per week; those in control group maintained usual activity. Neuromotor skills were measured at 1 month of age using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, 2nd Edition (PDMS-2). Unpaired t-tests were used to compare infants' PDMS-2 subtest percentiles, Gross Motor Quotients, and Gross Motor Quotient percentile between groups.
Results:
Infants of women in the exercise group had higher PDMS-2 scores on four of the five variables analyzed relative to infants of nonexercisers. Female infants tended to have improved scores relative to male infants of controls; this difference was attenuated in infants of exercisers.
Conclusions:
Exercise during pregnancy can positively influence developing systems allowing for improved neuromotor development, thus leading to infants who are more adept at movement, and presumably more likely to be active. Because physical activity is a modifiable risk factor of childhood obesity, these findings suggest that exercise during pregnancy may potentially reduce childhood risk of obesity.
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