Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Aug 5;12(15):5139.
doi: 10.3390/jcm12155139.

Influence of Physical Activity during Pregnancy on Type and Duration of Delivery, and Epidural Use: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Dingfeng Zhang  1 , Stephanie-May Ruchat  2 , Cristina Silva-Jose  1 , Javier Gil-Ares  1 , Rubén Barakat  1 , Miguel Sánchez-Polán  1
Affiliations
Review

Influence of Physical Activity during Pregnancy on Type and Duration of Delivery, and Epidural Use: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Dingfeng Zhang et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Cesarean delivery may increase the need for anesthesia administration, thereby causing potential risks to both maternal and fetal health. This article aimed to investigate the effect of physical activity during pregnancy on the type of delivery, the duration of labor, and the use of epidurals (registration No.: CRD42022370646). Furthermore, 57 RCTs (n = 15301) were included showing that physical activity could decrease the risk of cesarean section (z = 3.22, p = 0.001; RR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.79, 0.95, I2 = 37%, Pheterogeneity = 0.004), and 32 RCTs (n = 9468) showed significant decreases in instrumental delivery through performing physical activity (z = 3.48, p < 0.001; RR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.76, 0.93, I2 = 0%, Pheterogeneity = 0.63). A significant decrease in the 15 RCTs' (n = 4797) duration of first stage labor was found in physically active pregnant women (z = 2.09, p = 0.04; MD = -62.26, 95% CI = -120.66, -3.85, I2 = 93%, Pheterogeneity < 0.001) compared to those not active. Prenatal physical activity could decrease the risk of cesarean section and instrumental delivery and the duration of first stage labor.

Keywords: cesarean section; duration of labor; epidural anesthesia; instrumental delivery; physical activity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of the selection process.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Risk of bias of the included studies [9,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effect of prenatal physical activity on cesarean delivery [9,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,41,42,43,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75,76,77,78,79].
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effect of prenatal physical activity on instrumental delivery [9,23,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,35,36,37,38,39,44,47,48,49,50,51,54,56,57,58,59,67,69,70,71,72,75,77].
Figure 5
Figure 5
Effect of prenatal physical activity on duration of the first stage of labor [29,36,38,44,46,50,52,57,58,65,67,69,71,73,78].
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect of prenatal physical activity on duration of the second stage of labor [9,29,35,36,38,39,42,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,54,57,58,61,65,66,67,69,71,73,78].
Figure 7
Figure 7
Effect of prenatal physical activity on duration of the third stage of labor [29,36,38,57,58,65,69,71].
Figure 8
Figure 8
Effect of prenatal physical activity on epidural use [21,29,35,40,42,48,49,51,55,62,64,66,79].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Burcher P., Gabriel J.L., Campo-Engelstein L., Kiley K.C. The case against cesarean delivery on maternal request in labor. Obstet. Gynecol. 2013;122:684–687. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0b013e31829d83c2. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Halpern S. SOGC Joint Policy Statement on Normal Childbirth. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. Can. 2009;31:602. doi: 10.1016/S1701-2163(16)34236-0. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Betran A.P., Ye J., Moller A.-B., Souza J.P., Zhang J. Trends and projections of caesarean section rates: Global and regional estimates. BMJ Global. Health. 2021;6:e005671. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005671. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Poyatos-León R., García-Hermoso A., Sanabria-Martínez G., Álvarez-Bueno C., Sánchez-López M., Martínez-Vizcaíno V. Effects of exercise during pregnancy on mode of delivery: A meta-analysis. Acta Obstet. Gyn. Scan. 2015;94:1039–1047. doi: 10.1111/aogs.12675. - DOI - PubMed
    1. MacLennan A.H., Taylor A.W., Wilson D.H., Wilson D. The prevalence of pelvic floor disorders and their relationship to gender, age, parity and mode of delivery. BJOG Int. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. 2000;107:1460–1470. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2000.tb11669.x. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources