Various studies indicate that physical exercise during pregnancy has benefits for the future mother, such as reducing the risk of developing gestational diabetes or hypertension, or of presenting certain complications, and even less likely to suffer from depression before or after the birth of her child. But the practice of physical activity also positively influences the health of the offspring, since a new study in which data from 814 babies has been analyzed has found that those whose mothers were physically active during pregnancy had better lung function compared with the children of inactive women.
The research that has reached this conclusion has been presented at the ‘virtual’ International Congress of the European Respiratory Society. Dr. Hrefna Katrin Gudmundsdottir, a pediatrician and doctoral student at the University of Oslo, Norway, said they found “infants born to inactive mothers were more likely to be in the group with the lowest lung function compared to babies born to active mothers.
“If physical activity during pregnancy could reduce the risk of impaired lung function in the baby, it would be a simple way to improve the respiratory health of offspring”
Dr. Gudmundsdottir also noted that “previous studies have shown that people with low lung function in childhood are at increased risk of asthma, other obstructive lung diseases, and lower lung function later in life. Therefore, exploring factors that may be associated with lung function in infants is important. If physical activity during pregnancy could reduce the risk of impaired lung function in the baby, it would be a simple, low-cost way to improve the respiratory health of offspring.”
Lower lung function in babies of inactive pregnant women
The babies’ lung function was assessed when they were about three months old by measuring their normal breathing when they were calm and awake. To do this, a mask was placed over the child’s nose and mouth, recording the flow and volume of air inhaled and exhaled; this mask was placed on a measuring set to record as many breaths as possible. The mothers, for their part, answered questionnaires around 18 and 34 weeks of pregnancy, in which they reported on their health, lifestyle, social and economic factors, and type of diet, including the frequency and intensity with which they ate. exercise and for how long at 18 weeks, which the researchers classified as inactive, fairly active, or very active.
The most important measure for this work was the relationship between time to peak tidal expiratory flow and expiratory time (tPTEF/tE). A low tPTEF/tE implies a limitation in the flow of exhaled air. The mean tPTEF/tE of the 814 infants was 0.391; the 290 babies of inactive mothers had the lowest average (0.387) and the 299 babies of very active mothers the highest (0.394), which is not a statistically significant difference.
Babies whose mothers were inactive in pregnancy were more likely to have a tPTEF/tE of less than 0.25, which indicates low lung function
Although the study authors did not find a continuous and significant increase in tPTEF/tE measurements from infants of inactive mothers to infants of very active mothers, they did find that those whose mothers were inactive in pregnancy, compared to active mothers, had more likely to have a tPTEF/tE of less than 0.25, which was statistically significant and indicates low lung function.
“Although there is no clear definition of ‘low’ lung function, studies, including those by our own group (such as the one published in The New England Journal of Medicine), have found that infants with a tPTEF/tE measurement of less than of 0.20 shortly after birth were more likely to have a history of asthma at the age of 10 years. In addition, children with lung function in the bottom 50% of the group were more likely to have current asthma at age 10 and to have a history of asthma,” said Dr. Gudmundsdottir.
These scientists will continue to follow the babies as they grow to see how their lung function evolves and how it is related to the onset of respiratory diseases, such as asthma. “We also hope to explore associations between maternal physical activity and asthma, allergies, and other noncommunicable diseases in the future,” Dr. Gudmundsdottir concluded.
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