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Pregnancy Interventions or Behaviors and Cardiometabolic Biomarkers: a Systematic Review

  • Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology (EF Schisterman and E Yeung, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

While normal pregnancy is characterized by changes in serum glucose and lipid levels, overweight and obese women exhibit marked alterations in the trajectory of these changes. Reviews have been published assessing the efficacy of behavioral interventions for weight management during pregnancy. No reviews, however, have examined the metabolic impact of such lifestyle changes/behaviors. We conducted this systematic review summarizing evidence to July 2015 from both trials and observational studies examining the impact of lifestyle interventions or healthy behaviors (diet and/or exercise) among pregnant women on cardiometabolic biomarkers measured during pregnancy. We found that studies are conflicting and have small sample sizes. A better understanding of the underlying mechanisms that may mediate the effects of nutrition and physical activity on gestational weight gain, pregnancy complications, and long-term cardiometabolic outcomes is needed with particular focus on high-risk groups of overweight and obese women.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 915 Greene St. Rm #447, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Nansi S. Boghossian, Olubunmi Orekoya, Junxiu Liu & Jihong Liu

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  1. Nansi S. Boghossian
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  2. Olubunmi Orekoya
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  3. Junxiu Liu
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Correspondence to Nansi S. Boghossian.

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Nansi S. Boghossian, Olubunmi Orekoya, Junxiu Liu, and Jihong Liu declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology

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Boghossian, N.S., Orekoya, O., Liu, J. et al. Pregnancy Interventions or Behaviors and Cardiometabolic Biomarkers: a Systematic Review. Curr Epidemiol Rep 3, 27–38 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40471-016-0061-0

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