Abstract

Background: Maternal exercise participation is not still full accepted by healthcare providers and the pregnant women for fear of possible negative effect on the mother and the fetus. There is need for more researches in this area to assure pregnant women and healthcare professionals on the safety of exercise on the woman and her unborn baby.
Objectives: To study fetal outcome following maternal participation in moderate intensity exercise program
Materials and Methods: A randomized study with one test group and one control group of pregnant women in their 3rd trimester of gestation. 105 women were screened and 95 met the study’s inclusion criteria and were randomized into exercise and control groups. The exercise group participated in a twice weekly moderate intensity exercise programme for 8 weeks, each session lasting 45 to 60minutes. Control group did not participate in any exercise programme within the period of study. Sixty-nine (69) out of the Ninety-five (95) participants completed the exercise programme and only their data were analysed
Results: Result showed no significant difference in the Apgar scores at 1 minute (P=.29) and at 5minutes (p=.18), the babies weight at birth (p=.93) and the OFC (p=.94), between the babies of the mothers in the exercise and control groups.Conclusion: Maternal participation in antenatal exercise did not seem to pose risk on the babies as there was no evidence that the moderate intensity exercise started from the 3rd trimester of gestation was associated with any adverse outcome on the babies.

Key words: Maternal exercise, pregnancy outcome, birth weight, Apgar score, Fetal outcome.