Key result
Physical fitness during pregnancy has been assessed through 191 tests using 149 different protocols, but most lack validity and reliability data, limiting confidence in their association with health outcomes.
Why the study?
Assessing physical fitness during pregnancy requires special considerations, warranting a compilation of frequently used fitness tests and evaluation of their validity, reliability, and relationship with health outcomes.
What physical fitness tests are used in pregnant women, and what is their validity, reliability, and relationship with health outcomes?
Systematic Review (n=149)
What physical fitness tests are used in pregnant women, and what is their validity, reliability, and relationship with health outcomes?
Physical fitness during pregnancy is assessed using a wide variety of protocols, but there is a significant lack of data regarding their validity and reliability.
Most unvalidated pregnancy fitness tests warrant clinical caution; leaves open reliable outcome associations until standardized validation studies emerge.
Background: Physical fitness (PF) is a powerful marker of health throughout the lifespan. In pregnant women, higher PF is associated with better maternal and fetal health, better delivery outcomes and earlier postpartum recovery. The assessment of PF during pregnancy requires special considerations to preserve fetal and maternal health; thus, providing a compilation of the most frequently used fitness tests, and assessing their validity, reliability, and association with maternal and neonatal health-related outcomes is of scientific and clinical interest. Objectives: To systematically review studies evaluating one or more components of PF in pregnant women, to answer two research questions: 1) What fitness tests have been previously employed in pregnant women? and 2) What is the validity and reliability of these tests and their relationship with health-related outcomes? Data Sources: PubMed and Web of Science. Methods: Two independent reviewers systematically examined the articles in each database. The information from the included articles was summarized by a single researcher. Results: A total of 149 articles containing a sum of 191 fitness tests were included. Among the 191 fitness tests, 99 (i.e.,52%) assessed cardiorespiratory fitness through 75 different protocols, 28 (15%) assessed muscular fitness through 16 different protocols, 14 (7%) assessed flexibility through 13 different protocols, 45 (24%) assessed balance through 40 different protocols, 2 assessed speed with the same protocol and 3 were multidimensional tests using one protocol. A total of 19 articles with 23 tests (13%) assessed either validity (n=4), reliability (n=6), or the relationship of PF with health-related outcomes (n=16). Conclusion: PF during pregnancy has been assessed through a wide variety of protocols, mostly lacking validity and reliability data.
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Romero‐Gallardo et al. (2021) conducted a systematic review in Healthy pregnant women (n=149). Physical fitness assessment tests was evaluated on Number and types of physical fitness tests used, and their validity and reliability. Physical fitness during pregnancy has been assessed through 191 tests using 149 different protocols, but most lack validity and reliability data, limiting confidence in their association with health outcomes.
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