Current Evidence on Exercise for Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Overweight and Obese Pregnant Women: A Systematic Review |Biomedgrid

The main purpose of this systematic review was to summarize the recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding the effects of exercise on gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in overweight and obese pregnant women. A literature search was performed on Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. The keywords were “exercise”, “physical activity”, “overweight”, “obese”, “gestational diabetes mellitus” and “gestational diabetes”. Only RCTs related to this field that have been published in peer-reviewed journal were covered. Twelve related studies were included in this review, 5 trials employed comprehensive lifestyle programs, 4 trials employed comprehensive exercise training programs, and the remaining 3 trials employed single exercise training programs, respectively. Although there are some conflict results in the effects of exercise on GDM in overweight or obese pregnant women, it seems that single exercise training programs (i.e. moderate-intensity cycling intervention) may contribute to more benefit on reducing the incidence of GDM and improving glucose metabolism. However, further rigorously well-designed RCTs are much warranted for examining the appropriate setting of this intervention and for further verification.