Key result
Antenatal exercise exaggerates late-pregnancy parasympathetic withdrawal and QT variability during supine rest.
Why the study?
Does a 20-week antenatal physical exercise program alter heart rate variability and QT variability in healthy pregnant women?
RCT (n=51)
Randomly assigned (2x2x2 design)
Does a 20-week antenatal physical exercise program alter heart rate variability and QT variability in healthy pregnant women?
Antenatal exercise exaggerates the normal physiological shifts toward sympathetic dominance in late pregnancy, creating autonomic properties theoretically associated with a higher risk of arrhythmias.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May warrant arrhythmia caution with antenatal exercise in late pregnancy; extends autonomic data but leaves clinical risk open.
OBJECTIVE: We sought to characterise the influence of an antenatal exercise programme on ECG-derived cardiac variables. METHODS: Fifity-one healthy pregnant women were recruited and randomly assigned (2 × 2×2 design) to an exercise group or a control group. Exercising groups attended weekly classes from the 20th week of pregnancy onwards. Cardiovascular assessments (heart rate variabiliy (HRV), QT, and the QT variability index (QTVI)) were performed at 12-16, 26-28, 34-36 weeks and 12 weeks following birth, during supine rest and exercise conditions. RESULTS: Advancing gestation was associated with an increased maternal heart rate (p = 0.001), shorter QT interval (p = 0.003), diminished HRV (p = 0.002) and increased QTVI (p = 0.002). Each of these changes was reversed within 12 weeks postpartum (p < 0.004). The Exercise group displayed exaggerated changes for all variables (except QT) but only during supine rest in the third trimester (p < 0.029). CONCLUSION: Advancing gestation is associated with a shift in HRV/QTVI towards values that have been associated with an elevated risk of arrhythmia. A 20-week exercise programme undertaken between mid and late pregnancy exaggerated these changes during rest in the third trimester of pregnancy.
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Carpenter et al. (2016) conducted an RCT in Healthy pregnancy (n=51). Antenatal physical exercise program vs. Control group (no formal exercise program) was evaluated on Heart rate variability (RMSSD) during supine rest in the third trimester (p=0.029). An antenatal exercise program exaggerated the normal pregnancy-associated reductions in parasympathetic activity and increases in QT variability during supine rest in the third trimester.
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