Systematic review of the effects of physical activity during pregnancy

Abstract

There are many queries regarding about the effects of physical activity during the gestation period. The aim of this study is to conduct a systematic review in order to find out the effectiveness of physical activity during pregnancy, as well as to determine which are the most beneficial. For this purpose, several databases have been used, such as Scopus, Scielo, Elsevier, ScienceDirect, ResearchGate, Springer Link, World Wide Science, MedlinePlus, Dialnet and Google Scholar using the keywords “physical activity” and “pregnancy”. The documents selected were 79, including articles and theses in Spanish and English published between 2004 and 2020. To carry out the descriptive analysis, eight variables have been extracted: research objectives, mean age of pregnant women, data collection tools, planning of physical activities performed, gestational period in which physical activities begin, the most frequent mode of delivery, intensity of activities and results of the study. After that, they have combined with each other, in order to obtain outcomes. The outcomes indicate that the main objective of the studies is to evaluate the effect of physical activity on the health of the mother over thirty years of age and that the period in which it is most commonly put into practice is from the first and second trimesters onwards. In conclusion, physical activity has very positive effects on pregnant women, as it does not alter the health of either the mother or the child. Likewise, the most beneficial are activities programs with moderate intensity.