Pregnancy Health: Exercise Programs to Prevent Gestational Hypertension

CDC

An Effective Practice

Description

The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends regular exercise for women before, during and after pregnancy. Specifically, the CPSTF recommends exercise programs help engage pregnant women with regular exercise from before their 16th week of pregnancy through birth.

Exercise programs must include either: (1) supervised exercise classes that meet at least three times each week and include 30-60 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise or (2) regular moderate-intensity walking sessions during which women (alone or in a group) walk 90-150 minutes per week or 11,000 steps per day.

Goal / Mission

The goal of exercise programs for pregnant women is to improve health and prevent gestational hypertension.

Impact

Exercise programs reduce the development of high blood pressure in pregnancy.

Results / Accomplishments

The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) found exercise programs reduced the development of hypertension during pregnancy by 46%. It also found the cesarean delivery rate for participants of the program was lower by 16% compared to other comparison groups.

About this Promising Practice

Primary Contact
The Community Guide
1600 Clifton Rd, NE
MS E69
Atlanta, GA 30329
(404) 498-1827
communityguide@cdc.gov
https://www.thecommunityguide.org/
Topics
Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health
Health / Heart Disease & Stroke
For more details
https://www.thecommunityguide.org/findings/pregnan...
Target Audience
Women, Families

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An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.