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Effects of maternal exercise on the fetal heart
Author(s) -
May Linda E,
Gustafson Kathleen F,
Popescu Anda,
Popescu Mihai,
Drake William B
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.1175.3
Subject(s) - fetus , medicine , gestational age , heart rate , autonomic nervous system , fetal heart rate , pregnancy , aerobic exercise , gestation , cardiology , obstetrics , physiology , blood pressure , biology , genetics
The hypothesis that exercise exposed fetuses have an improved autonomic tone was tested by measuring fetal heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) recorded from a biomagnetometer at various gestational ages. Mothers were classified as exercisers if they performed moderate intensity aerobic exercise at least 30 minutes 3 times per week. Mothers in the control category did not partake of a regular exercise regime. After separating maternal and fetal heart rates, fetal R peaks were marked by computer and corrected manually. We found that fetuses exposed to maternal exercise had lower heart rates than non‐exercise exposed healthy fetuses. At each age, the differences between the FHR means of the two groups is statistically significant with p<0.05 using a t‐test with equal variances. The data from 6 uncomplicated pregnancies (3 exercisers and 3 non‐exercisers) have been controlled for fetal gender, fetal activity state, and parity of the mother. As we anticipated, we have found significantly decreased fetal heart rates in exercise exposed fetuses in the same activity state and at the same gestational age compared to non‐exercise exposed fetuses. However, the analysis of short‐ and long‐term variability at 28, 32, and 36 wks gestational age in exercise exposed fetuses relative to non‐exercise exposed fetuses demonstrate no statistically significant differences, which can be presumably accounted for by the small sample size. These results imply an exciting potential benefit of maternal exercise on fetal cardiac autonomic nervous system. These data suggest a prenatal programming effect on the fetal cardiac and autonomic nervous system from maternal physiological events during gestation.