PREVENTING GESTATIONAL DIABETES IN HIGH-RISK PREGNANT WOMEN WITH AEROBIC EXERCISE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is any glucose intolerance that appears or is diagnoses for the first-time during pregnancy. According to International Diabetes Federation, the worldwide prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in 2019 was 14.4%, while in Malaysia for 2019 was 22.5%. The purpose of this study was to review the effectiveness of aerobic exercise in preventing gestational diabetes mellitus among pregnant women at risk towards fasting blood glucose level, insulin resistance level, and oral glucose tolerance test level. This study was designed based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyse (PRISMA) checklist. A total of five databases were used: Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), MEDLINE (EBSCO), PubMed (NCBI) and Cochrane library. Data were extracted based on PICO framework. Study bias was assessed using Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale. The findings of the studies were analysed into three themes according to outcome measures. Five studies from 1,866 studies were included. Three studies showed significant improvement results, while two showed no significant or similar results between groups in related outcome measures. The result indicates aerobic exercise might prevent gestational diabetes mellitus among at-risk pregnant women. However, ss we focused only on one intervention, we could not analyse the effect of aerobic exercise with resistance or dietary, which could benefit the population