Effect of Aerobic Exercises Versus Device Guided Breathing on Gestational Hypertension

Sixty singleton pregnant women, diagnosed with gestational hypertension (GH) at 21- week of gestation, and aged between 25-35 years were randomized. GH was defined as blood pressure higher than 140/90 measured on two separate occasions, more than 6 hours apart, without the presence of protein in the urine and diagnosed after 20 weeks of gestation.

Women with multiple pregnancies, cervical insufficiency, vaginal bleeding, heart disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, kidney failure, and neurologic disorders were excluded from the study. For inclusion in the study, pregnant women also could not be engaged in any supervised physical exercise, at the time of selection and when signing a free written informed consent term.

Pregnant women were randomized using an opaque sealed envelope that was sequentially numbered and statistically generated by a computer program. The envelope contained information about the random allocation group: group (A), engaged in aerobic exercise twice a week under the supervision of a physical therapist, and group (B), engaged in device guided breathing exercises. Both groups received antihypertensive medications. Random allocation of the subjects was performed by another investigator, who did not participate directly in the research study.

Exercise program for group (A) The therapist advised all participants to drink a plenty of water before and after the exercise session to avoid excessive loss of body water during the session. Pregnant women were instructed to have a light meal about one hour before the performance of exercise and to wear comfortable clothes.

Participants in this group were given a Low-Intensity Aerobic Exercise with Borg scale RPE at 11. Participants were asked to maintain this intensity of rate of perceived exertion throughout the 45 minutes' duration of the aerobic training.