Abstract
Background: Healthy women who participating in physical activity prior to pregnancy can safely continue to exercise during and after pregnancy. Exercise during pregnancy is associated with minimal risk and have indicated benefits such as reduce birth complication and enhance quality after pregnancy. The aim of this investigation is to identify the association between exercise and birth outcomes. Methods: This investigation was designed to assess the relation between exercise and birth outcomes. Medical data was collected from hospital medical record. Data was gathered from approximately 133 healthy women from Randwick Hospital for Women, Sydney and Wollongong Hospital, NSW, Australia. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics; Pearson correlation was conducted to evaluate the association between exercise and birth outcomes. Results: No association was observed between participation in physical activity prior to pregnancy, during the first, second and the third trimester and birth outcomes such as the baby’s physical condition, birth weight and risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: Despite the few associations that were found, strong support for increased effect of exercise during pregnancy on birth outcomes was not observed for most of the birth-outcome variables. KEY WORDS: Women, pregnancy, birth outcomes, exercise