The mediating role of placenta in the relationship between maternal exercise during pregnancy and full-term low birth weight. (18th June 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Huang, Lihua; Fan, Lijun; Ding, Peng; He, Yan-Hui; Xie, Chuanbo; Niu, Zhongzheng; Tian, Fu-Ying; Yuan, Shixin; Jia, Deqin; Chen, Wei-Qing
• Is Part Of: Journal of maternal-fetal & neonatal medicine. Volume 31:Number 12(2018)
• Page Start: 1561
• Page End: 1567
• Publication Date: 2018-06-18
• Subjects: Case-control study -- full-term low birth weight -- maternal exercise during pregnancy -- placental weight; Obstetrics -- Periodicals; Perinatology -- Periodicals; Infants (Newborn) -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Neonatology -- Periodicals; 618.2
• DOI: 10.1080/14767058.2017.1319936
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1476-7058

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: To explore the association of maternal exercise during pregnancy with full-term low birth weight (FT-LBW) and whether placenta mediates their association. Study design: We investigated 326 pregnant women delivering FT-LBW weight newborns (cases) and 1644 delivering full-term normal birth weight newborns (controls) in this case-control study. Information concerning maternal exercise during pregnancy, socio-demographics and obstetric characteristics were collected at Women and Children's Hospitals of Shenzhen and Foshan in Guangdong, China. Results: After adjusting for the potential confounders, maternal exercise frequency and duration during pregnancy were significantly negatively associated with FT-LBW, respectively. Moreover, compared with mothers taking no exercise during pregnancy, those taking exercises were significantly negatively associated with FT-LBW except those taking low/medium frequency and short duration exercise and high-frequency and long duration exercise, and their adjusted ORs ranged from 0.30 to 0.62. Furthermore, mediation analysis illustrated that placental weight partially mediated 27.20% of the association between maternal exercise frequency during pregnancy and FT-LBW, but not the association between maternal exercise duration during pregnancy and FT-LBW. Conclusions: Maternal exercise during pregnancy is beneficial for lowering FT-LBW risk, especially when taking appropriate and enough exercise. Placenta weight partially mediates the association between maternal exercise frequency during pregnancy and FT-LBW.