Effects of Maternal Exercise Type on Infant Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System

ECU Author/Contributor (non-ECU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)

Colby Jolly (Creator)

Institution

East Carolina University (ECU )

Web Site: http://www.ecu.edu/lib/

Abstract: PURPOSE: The main purpose of this study is to measure the effects of aerobic , resistance , and combination training during pregnancy on offspring cardiac autonomic nervous system development at one-month postnatal age through heart rate and heart rate variability measures. METHODS: Participants were randomized into four groups , aerobic (n=6) , and resistance (n=3) , circuit (n=3) and a control (n=6) and trained from 16-weeks gestation until delivery. Exercise groups participated in three , 50-minute moderate-intensity exercise sessions per week. After birth , one-month infant HR and HRV measurements were obtained. Infant heart rate variability measures were not-normally distributed; therefore , we ran a Kruskal Wallis analysis to determine differences between groups. A 2x4 ANOVA was used to determine the differences between aerobic , resistance , combination , and control groups as well as within groups for each of the heart rate variability measures. Independent sample t-tests were used to determine any within group differences. RESULTS: Although there are no significant differences , there are potential trends based on autonomic measures For parasympathetic measures of RMSSD and HF , resistance group demonstrated higher values compared to controls. For sympathetic measure of VLF , all groups had increased HRV power relative to controls. For HRV measures indicative of parasympathetic AND sympathetic , all exercise groups demonstrated lower values of LF/HF and the resistance group had increased Total Power compared to controls. CONCLUSION: Overall , the observations of this study demonstrated that prenatal exercise training type exhibited no effect on one-month-old infant cardiac autonomic control. Importantly , these findings suggest that prenatal exercise training types poses no adverse nor beneficial effect on neonatal autonomic control , thus it is potentially safe for pregnant women to engage in various exercise training types in pregnancy.

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Language: English

Date: 2019

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