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Exercise in Pregnant Women with Diabetes
Tricia M Peters1, Anne-Sophie Brazeau2
1Lady Davis Research Institute, Centre for Clinical Epidemiology, and Division of Endocrinology, Jewish General Hospital, 3755 Côte Ste-Catherine, H-450, Montreal, QC, H3T 1E2, Canada. tricia.peters@mcgill.ca.
Purpose Of Review:
Diabetes affects an increasing number of pregnancies. Regular exercise is recommended for pregnant women without diabetes, but whether exercise during pregnancy also benefits women with gestational diabetes (GDM) or preexisting (type 1 or type 2) diabetes or if these women have any specific risks is unclear.
Recent Findings:
Recent evidence suggests that low- to moderate-intensity exercise improves blood glucose and may delay insulin initiation for women with GDM. Exercise is also safe, with no reports of increased maternal or neonatal complications. Few studies evaluated exercise as adjunct therapy for pregnant women with preexisting diabetes, precluding a thorough assessment in this population. Low- to moderate-intensity exercise during pregnancy safely improves glycemic control among women with GDM. More studies are needed to evaluate the impact of exercise in pregnant women with preexisting diabetes. Whether a specific type, volume, or timing of activity is most effective is not known.
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