Effect of Regular Exercise Commenced in Early Pregnancy on the Incidence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Overweight and Obese Pregnant Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common complication in pregnancy that is associated with a higher risk of adverse health outcomes for mothers and offspring, not only during the perinatal phase but also in the long term, well into future generations. Exercise has been confirmed as effective in delaying the progression of glucose intolerance in type 2 diabetes. However, whether exercise is effective for the prevention of GDM is not clear because the few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating this issue show conflicting results (1). Therefore, we conducted an RCT (NCT02304718) to evaluate whether regular cycling commenced in early pregnancy could reduce the incidence of GDM in Chinese pregnant women. A total of 300 singleton pregnant women with a mean prepregnancy BMI of 26.78 ± 2.75 kg/m2 before 12+6 gestational weeks were recruited and randomly allocated into either an exercise intervention group (EG) or a control group (CG) in a 1:1 ratio. Participants allocated to the CG …