Relationship between physical activity during the first 20 weeks of gestation and hypertension in pregnancy

Hypertension during pregnancy is an important complication with unknown etiology. Recent preventive measures were focused on increasing the bodys ability to confront oxidative stress. Since physical activity has an antioxidant effect, this study was performed to find the relationship between physical activity during the first 20 weeks of gestation and hypertension in pregnancy. In a case-control study, the length and intensity of physical activity were compared between two hypertensive and non-hypertensive groups of 97 pregnant women each. The two groups were not significantly different in the cases of age, body math index (BMI), education level, pregnancy age, and employment situation. The results showed that the level of physical activity during pregnancy in the women without hypertension (30.38±14.89) was more than that in the women with hypertension (14.63±12.24) during pregnancy (p<0.001). Also, both the intensity (low, medium (p<0.001), high (p<0.05)) and the duration of physical activity (p<0.001) in the group without blood pressure were more than those in the other group. The results showed that physical activity is an important preventive factor for hypertension in pregnancy.