Maternal exercise increases infant resting energy expenditure: preliminary results.

Maternal obesity is associated with lower infant resting energy expenditure (REE), predisposing them to more rapid weight and adiposity gain through early infancy. Maternal exercise (ME) decreases infant adiposity and risk for childhood obesity; however, it remains unknown if this is in part mediated by changes in infant energy expenditure. Thus, we measured REE in 1-month-old infants from pregnant individuals who performed moderate-intensity exercise during pregnancy and compared it to infants from non-exercising controls. We observed higher oxygen respiratory rates (p = 0.003 for VO2 and p = 0.007 for VCO2) and REE (p = 0.002) in infants exposed to exercise in utero, independent of any differences in infant body composition. Furthermore, maternal BMI was significantly and inversely associated with infant REE in the control (r = -0.86, R2 = 0.74, p = 0.029), but not the exercise group (r = 0.33, R2 = 0.11, p = 0.473). Together, these findings associate ME with increasing infant energy expenditure which could be protective of subsequent infant adiposity gain. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03838146 and NCT04805502.

Exercise FITT-V during pregnancy: Association with birth outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal exercise improves birth outcomes, but research into exercise dose-response effects is limited. METHODS: This study is a retrospective, secondary analysis of pooled data from three blinded, prospective, randomized controlled trials. Prenatal exercise frequency, intensity, type, time, and volume (FITT-V) were assessed in supervised sessions throughout pregnancy. Gestational age (GA), neonatal resting heart rate (rHR), morphometrics (body circumferences, weight-to-length and ponderal index) Apgar and reflex scores, and placental measures were obtained at birth. Stepwise regressions and Pearson correlations determined associations between FITT-V and birth outcomes. RESULTS: Prenatal exercise frequency reduces ponderal index (R2 = 0.15, F = 2.76, p = .05) and increased total number of reflexes present at birth (R2 = 0.24, F = 7.89, p < .001), while exercise intensity was related to greater gestational age and birth length (R2 = 0.08, F = 3.14; R2 = 0.12, F = 3.86, respectively; both p = .04); exercise weekly volume was associated with shorter hospital stay (R2 = 0.24, F = 4.73, p = .01). Furthermore, exercise type was associated with placenta size (R2 = 0.47, F = 3.51, p = .01). CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal exercise is positively related to birth and placental outcomes in a dose-dependent manner.

Relevance of Uterine Weight for Predicting Surgical Complications in Minimally Invasive Benign Hysterectomy.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To describe the uterine weight threshold for increasing risk of complications after a laparoscopic hysterectomy using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) database. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis using the American College of Surgeons NSQIP database from 2016 to 2021. SETTING: American College of Surgeons NSQIP database. PATIENTS: Patients undergoing minimally invasive hysterectomy for benign indications (N = 64 289). INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Uterine weight was entered in grams and 30-day complications were abstracted from patient charts. In the analytic sample, median uterine weight was 135 grams (interquartile range, 90-215) and 6% of patients (n = 4085) experienced complications. Uterine weight performed very poorly in predicting complications on bivariate analysis (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve, 0.53; 95% confidence interval, 0.53-0.54). On multivariable analysis, a uterine weight cutoff of 163 grams was associated with higher odds of complications (odds ratio, 1.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.03-1.19; p = .003), but this threshold achieved only a 43% sensitivity and 62% specificity for predicting complications. CONCLUSIONS: Uterine weight alone possessed negligible utility for predicting the risk of perioperative complications in minimally invasive hysterectomy.

Influence of prenatal exercise on the relationship between maternal overweight and obesity and select delivery outcomes.

Women with overweight or obesity (OWOB) have an increased risk of cesarean birth, preterm birth (PTB), and high birth weight infants. Although regular exercise decreases this risk in healthy weight women, these associations have not been explored in OWOB. Women were randomized at 13-16 weeks' gestation to 150-min of moderate-intensity exercise (n = 131) or non-exercising control (n = 61). Delivery mode, gestational age (GA), and birth weight (BW) were obtained via electronic health records. Pregnant exercisers had no differences in risk of cesarean birth, PTB, or BW compared to control participants. OWOB exercisers had higher rates of cesarean birth (27.1% vs. 11.1%), trends of higher PTB (15.3% vs. 5.6%), but normal weight babies relative to normal weight exercisers. Controlling for race and body mass index (BMI), maternal exercise reduced the relative risk (RR) for cesarean birth from 1.63 to 1.43. Cesarean births predicted by pre-pregnancy BMI and fitness level, whereas BW was predicted by race, gestational weight gain (GWG), pre-pregnancy fitness level, and exercise level. Cesarean birth was predicted by pre-pregnancy BMI and fitness level, while maternal exercise reduced the magnitudes of the relative risks of cesarean birth. Maternal exercise, pre-pregnancy fitness level, and GWG predict neonatal BW.Trial Registration: Influence of Maternal Exercise on Infant Skeletal Muscle and Metabolomics-#NCT03838146, 12/02/2019, https://register.clinicaltrials.gov/prs/app/template/EditRecord.vm?epmode=Edit&listmode=Edit&uid=U0003Z0X&ts=8&sid=S0008FWJ&cx=77ud1i .