Increased physical activity is correlated with improved pregnancy outcomes in women with preeclampsia: A retrospective study

Objectives: Several studies have focused on the benefits of physical activity to prevent and treat preeclampsia, given that preeclampsia and cardiovascular disease share several risk factors. However, none of these studies have been conducted in Africa. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that exercise training has preventive effects on the development of preeclampsia in mouse models. Therefore, we evaluated the association between the practice of physical activity and the development of this pathology in a Tunisian cohort.

Study design: Sixty-one healthy pregnant Tunisian women and 45 women with preeclampsia were recruited and completed the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire to determine their level and type of physical activity during the entire pregnancy.

Main outcome measure: Continuous variables were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test, while categorical variables were compared using the Chi-square test. The correlation between preeclampsia features and energy expenditure were assessed using the Pearson's correlation test.

Results: Energy expenditure analysis revealed that women with preeclampsia engaged in more sedentary activities than controls, while controls practiced more physical activities. Interestingly, we found a positive correlation between the total amount of energy spent and the duration of pregnancy in controls and women with preeclampsia.

Conclusions: Increasing physical activity is correlated with increasing pregnancy duration which is an index of maternal and fetal health. The practice of physical activities during pregnancy is associated with a healthier pregnancy, while sedentary activities is associated with the development of preeclampsia.