Preeclampsia and Obesity—The Preventive Role of Exercise

Elżbieta Poniedziałek-Czajkowska (), Radzisław Mierzyński and Bożena Leszczyńska-Gorzelak
Additional contact information
Elżbieta Poniedziałek-Czajkowska: Chair and Department of Obstetrics and Perinatology, Medical University of Lublin, 20-954 Lublin, Poland
Radzisław Mierzyński: Chair and Department of Obstetrics and Perinatology, Medical University of Lublin, 20-954 Lublin, Poland
Bożena Leszczyńska-Gorzelak: Chair and Department of Obstetrics and Perinatology, Medical University of Lublin, 20-954 Lublin, Poland

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-39

Abstract: Obesity is now recognized as a worldwide epidemic. An inadequate diet and reduced physical activity are acknowledged as the leading causes of excess body weight. Despite growing evidence that obesity is a risk factor for unsuccessful pregnancies, almost half of all women who become pregnant today are overweight or obese. Common complications of pregnancy in this group of women are preeclampsia and gestational hypertension. These conditions are also observed more frequently in women with excessive weight gain during pregnancy. Preeclampsia is one of the most serious pregnancy complications with an unpredictable course, which in its most severe forms, threatens the life and health of the mother and her baby. The early identification of the risk factors for preeclampsia development, including obesity, allows for the implementation of prophylaxis and a reduction in maternal and fetal complications risk. Additionally, preeclampsia and obesity are the recognized risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease in later life, so prophylaxis and treating obesity are paramount for their prevention. Thus, a proper diet and physical activity might play an essential role in the prophylaxis of preeclampsia in this group of women. Limiting weight gain during pregnancy and modifying the metabolic risk factors with regular physical exercise creates favorable metabolic conditions for pregnancy development and benefits the elements of the pathogenetic sequence for preeclampsia development. In addition, it is inexpensive, readily available and, in the absence of contraindications to its performance, safe for the mother and fetus. However, for this form of prevention to be effective, it should be applied early in pregnancy and, for overweight and obese women, proposed as an essential part of planning pregnancy. This paper aims to present the mechanisms of the development of hypertension in pregnancy in obese women and the importance of exercise in its prevention.

Keywords: preeclampsia; gestational hypertension; obesity; exercise; prophylaxis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1267/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1267/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1267-:d:1031174

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().