Gestational diabetes and exercise: a survey

Semin Perinatol. 1996 Aug;20(4):328-33. doi: 10.1016/s0146-0005(96)80025-5.

Abstract

Exercise has long been accepted as an adjunctive nonmedical intervention in the management of diabetes in nonpregnant subjects. It is universally accepted that pregnancy is a diabetogenic event which could develop into gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in up to 12% of pregnant women. GDM, a carbohydrate intolerance of variable severity with onset or first recognition during pregnancy, involves a relative resistance to insulin. Exercise becomes thus a logical intervention, only recently offered as an adjunctive therapy to pregnant diabetics. This article reviews our current understanding of the role of exercise in the management of GDM.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Blood Glucose / metabolism
  • Diabetes, Gestational / physiopathology
  • Diabetes, Gestational / therapy*
  • Exercise / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Insulin / blood
  • Insulin Resistance
  • Pregnancy

Substances

  • Blood Glucose
  • Insulin