title: Aquatic Activities During Pregnancy Prevent Excessive Maternal Weight Gain and Preserve Birth Weight: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to examine the influence of a supervised and regular program of aquatic activities throughout gestation on maternal weight gain and birth weight.
  
  
  
  A randomized clinical trial.
  
  
  
  Instituto de Obstetricia, Ginecología y Fertilidad Ghisoni (Buenos Aires, Argentina).
  
  
  
  One hundred eleven pregnant women were analyzed (31.6 ± 3.8 years). All women had uncomplicated and singleton pregnancies; 49 were allocated to the exercise group (EG) and 62 to the control group (CG).
  
  
  
  The intervention program consisted of 3 weekly sessions of aerobic and resistance aquatic activities from weeks 10 to 12 until weeks 38 to 39 of gestation.
  
  
  
  Maternal weight gain, birth weight, and other maternal and fetal outcomes were obtained by hospital records.
  
  
  
  Student unpaired t test and χ2test were used; P values ≤.05 indicated statistical significance. Cohen's d was used to determinate the effect size.
  
  
  
  There was a higher percentage of women with excessive maternal weight gain in the CG (45.2%; n = 28) than in the EG (24.5%; n = 12; odds ratio = 0.39; 95% confidence interval: 0.17-0.89; P = .02). Birth weight and other pregnancy outcomes showed no differences between groups.
  
  
  
  Three weekly sessions of water activities throughout pregnancy prevents excessive maternal weight gain and preserves birth weight.
  
  
  
  The clinicaltrial.gov identifier: NCT 02602106.
authors.affiliation: 1 Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport, Flores University, Argentine.
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bacchi
authors.affiliation: 2 R. Samuel McLaughlin Foundation-Exercise & Pregnancy Laboratory, School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.|3 Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Children's Health Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
authors.forename: Michelle F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Mottola
authors.affiliation: 4 Research Institute of Hospital 12 de Octubre ("i+12"), Madrid, Spain.|5 Camilo José Cela University, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perales
authors.affiliation: 6 AFIPE Research Group, Technical University of Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Refoyo
authors.affiliation: 6 AFIPE Research Group, Technical University of Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ruben
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barakat
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D000078064:Gestational Weight Gain / Q000502:physiology*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: aquatic exercise; birth weight; maternal weight gain; pregnancy