To analyse i) the association of physical fitness during early second trimester and late pregnancy with maternal and neonatal outcomes; and ii) to investigate whether physical fitness is associated ...with the type of birth (vaginal or caesarean section).
Pregnant women from the GESTAFIT Project (n = 159) participated in this longitudinal study. Maternal physical fitness including upper- and lower-body strength, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and flexibility were measured through objective physical fitness tests at the 16th and 34th gestational weeks. Maternal and neonatal outcomes were collected from obstetric medical records. Umbilical arterial and venous blood gas pH and partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO2) and oxygen (PO2), were assessed.
At the 16th week, greater upper-body muscle strength was associated with greater neonatal birth weight (r = 0.191, p<0.05). Maternal flexibility was associated with a more alkaline arterial pH (r = 0.220, p<0.05), higher arterial PO2 (r = 0.237, p<0.05) and lower arterial PCO2 (r = -0.331, p<0.01) in umbilical cord blood. Maternal CRF at the 16th gestational week was related to higher arterial umbilical cord PO2 (r = 0.267, p<0.05). The women who had caesarean sections had lower CRF (p<0.001) at the 16th gestational week and worse clustered overall physical fitness, both at the 16th (-0.227, p = 0.003, confidence interval (CI): -0.376, -0.078) and 34th gestational week (-0.223; p = 0.018; CI: -0.432, -0.015) compared with the women who had vaginal births.
Increasing physical fitness during pregnancy may promote better neonatal outcomes and is associated with a decrease in the risk of caesarean section. This trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02582567) on October 20, 2015.
We examined the association of the dietary habits and the Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence with sleep quality during pregnancy. A food frequency questionnaire and the Mediterranean Food Pattern were ...employed to assess dietary habits and MD adherence, respectively. Sleep quality was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) global score (
= 150; mean age 32.9 ± 4.6 years). A higher consumption of fruits was associated with better sleep quality at the 16th gestational week (g.w.;
< 0.05). A greater olive oil consumption and a higher MD adherence were associated with better sleep quality at the 16th and 34th g.w. (all,
< 0.05). Contrarily, a higher red meat and subproducts consumption was associated with worse sleep quality at the 34th g.w. (
< 0.05). The group with the highest adherence to the MD (Tertile 3) showed better sleep quality than the group with the lowest adherence (Tertile 1) at the 16th and 34th g.w. (both,
< 0.05). A higher adherence to the MD, a greater intake of fruits and olive oil and a lower intake of red meat and subproducts were associated with better sleep quality along the pregnancy course, especially among sedentary women.
This study aimed to investigate whether the effects of an exercise program during pregnancy on postpartum body composition are moderated by following a healthy dietary pattern (i.e., Mediterranean ...diet (MD)). Eighty-three pregnant women (control n = 40, exercise n = 43) were included in the present quasi-experimental study. The exercise intervention consisted of a 60 min, 3 day/week throughout pregnancy from gestational week 17, supervised concurrent (aerobic + resistance) exercise program. A food frequency questionnaire and the MD Score (min–max: 0–50) were employed to assess dietary habits and the MD adherence during pregnancy, respectively. Postpartum body composition was measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, 6 weeks postpartum. The body mass index and the gynecoid fat mass at postpartum were lower in the exercise compared to the control group (p = 0.018 and p = 0.047, respectively). There was an interaction showing that the MD adherence during pregnancy positively moderated the effects of the exercise intervention on postpartum lean mass (p = 0.024), fat mass percentage (p = 0.092), android fat mass (p = 0.076), and android-to-gynecoid fat mass (p = 0.019). The Johnson–Neyman technique revealed that the effects of exercise were enhanced at a MD score of ~31 for lean mass, ~25 for fat mass, ~23 for android fat mass and ~29 for android-to-gynecoid fat mass. Our results suggest that a concurrent-exercise training plus an optimal MD adherence during pregnancy might be a useful strategy to promote a healthier body composition at the postpartum period.
The current study was designed to assess the influence of consumption of ultra-processed (UPF) on oxidative/antioxidant balance and evoked inflammatory signaling in young patients with celiac disease ...(CD). The study included 85 children. The celiac group (
= 53) included children with CD with a long (>18 months,
= 17) or recent (<18 months,
= 36) adherence to a gluten-free diet (GFD). The control group (
= 32) included healthy children with a significantly higher consumption of UPF compared to the control group, both expressed as kcal/day (
= 0.043) and as percentage of daily energy intake (
= 0.023). Among children with CD, the group with the lowest consumption of UPF (below the 50% of daily energy intake) had a greater Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence and higher moderate physical activity levels. In addition, CD children with the lowest consumption of UPF had healthier redox (lower soluble superoxide dismutase-1 and 15-F2t-isoprostanes) and inflammatory profiles (lower macrophage inflammatory protein-1α) compared to the group with the highest consumption of UPF (all,
< 0.05) regardless of the time on a GFD. These findings highlight the importance of a correct monitoring of the GFD. An unbalanced GFD with high consumption of UPF and an unhealthy pattern with less physical activity and worse adherence to MD results in a worse inflammatory profile, which could act as a parallel pathway that could have important consequences on the pathophysiology of the disease.
We aimed to assess the influence of the Mediterranean Diet adherence and physical activity (PA) on body composition, with a particular focus on bone health, in young patients with celiac disease ...(CD). The CD group (n = 59) included children with CD with a long (>18 months, n = 41) or recent (<18 months, n = 18) adherence to a gluten-free diet (GFD). The non-celiac group (n = 40) included non-celiac children. After adjusting for potential confounders, the CD group showed lower body weight (p = 0.034), lean mass (p = 0.003), bone mineral content (p = 0.006), and bone Z-score (p = 0.036) than non-celiac children, even when the model was further adjusted for adherence to a GFD for at least 18 months. Among CD children, spending greater time in vigorous physical activity was associated with higher lean mass (p = 0.020) and bone mineral density with evidence of statistical significance (p = 0.078) regardless of the time they followed a GFD. In addition, a greater Mediterranean Diet adherence was associated with a higher bone Z-score (p = 0.020). Moreover, lean mass was strongly associated with bone mineral density and independently explained 12% of its variability (p < 0.001). These findings suggest the importance of correctly monitoring lifestyle in children with CD regarding dietary habits and PA levels to improve lean mass and, consequently, bone quality in this population.
Background:
Menstrual disorders were not reported as a possible secondary effect in any of the clinical trials for the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
Aim:
To describe the prevalence of perceived premenstrual ...and menstrual changes after COVID-19 vaccine administration.
Design:
Cross-sectional study.
Methods:
A total of 14,153 women (mean age 31.5 ± 9.3 years old) who had received the full course of vaccination at least three months earlier were included in this cross-sectional study. Data including the type of vaccine administered, perceived changes in the amount and duration of menstrual bleeding, presence of clots, cycle length, and premenstrual symptoms were collected through a retrospective online survey from June to September 2021.
Results:
Of the women who participated in this study, 3136 reported no menstrual changes and 11,017 (78% of the study sample) reported experiencing menstrual cycle changes after vaccination. In summary, women who reported menstrual changes after vaccination were older (overall p < 0.001) and slightly more smokers (p = 0.05) than women who did not report any changes. The most prevalent changes in relation to premenstrual symptoms were increased fatigue (43%), abdominal bloating (37%), irritability (29%), sadness (28%), and headaches (28%). The most predominant menstrual changes were more menstrual bleeding (43%), more menstrual pain (41%), delayed menstruation (38%), fewer days of menstrual bleeding (34.5%), and shorter cycle length (32%).
Conclusion:
Women vaccinated against COVID-19 usually perceive mild menstrual and premenstrual changes. Future studies are warranted to clarify the physiological mechanisms behind these widely reported changes.
To analyze the influence of a supervised concurrent exercise program on emotional well-being and emotional distress in middle-aged women.
This randomized controlled trial included 150 middle-aged ...women recruited for the FLAMENCO project. Participants were allocated into counseling (n = 75) or exercise (n = 75) groups. The counseling group attended conferences on healthy lifestyle (including diet and physical activity topics). The exercise group followed a 60-min concurrent (aerobic + resistance) exercise training 3 days/wk for 16 weeks. Emotional health was assessed with the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) in two diverse timeframes, state (PANAS-S) and trait (PANAS-T) ranging from 10 to 50, where higher scores reflect greater affective emotional health/experience (positive affect subscale) and greater emotional distress (negative affect subscale). The differences between the counseling and exercise groups in PANAS were analyzed by linear regression.
The total number of women for the per-protocol analyses was 111 divided into the counseling (n = 53) and exercise (n = 58) groups. After adjusting for body mass index and Mediterranean diet adherence, PANAS-S and PANAS-T-positive affect scores increased by 3.81 and 3.02, respectively, in the exercise group whereas they decreased by 0.15 and increased by 0.51 in the counseling group (both, P < 0.05). PANAS-T negative affect decreased by 4.10 in the exercise group whereas only decreased by 0.9 in the counseling group (P < 0.05).
A 16-week concurrent exercise program improved emotional experience in middle-aged women. Specifically, women in the exercise group significantly improved their emotional well-being and emotional distress through greater changes in positive affect and negative affect compared with the counseling group.
Abstract Objectives To characterize a representative sample of fibromyalgia women based on a set of relevant factors known to be related to this disease. To distinguish specific factors of the ...disease from other symptoms that might also exist in non-fibromyalgia women. To test whether fibromyalgia affects more severely physical or psychological outcomes. Methods A total of 459 fibromyalgia women vs. 214 non-fibromyalgia (control) women from Southern Spain (Andalusia) took part in this cross-sectional study. Several instruments were used to assess tenderness, impact of fibromyalgia, fatigue, health-related quality of life, mental health, and cognitive performance. Results Overall, fibromyalgia women showed a worse status in pain, fatigue, health-related quality of life, depression, and anxiety than controls ( P < 0.01). In general, the observed associations presented very large effect sizes (Cohen׳s d from ~1 to ~5.5). No differences between fibromyalgia and controls were observed in cognitive and memory performance, except for delayed recall, but the observed effect size was low (~0.25). The effect size observed for the global physical component (~3.3) was larger than that for the global psychological component (~1.3), all P < 0.001. Conclusions Our results reinforce the understanding of fibromyalgia as a polysymptomatic distress condition with pain as its main symptom. Our findings support that fibromyalgia seems to have a greater impact on physical than on psychological outcomes, though both are largely affected.
This study aimed to examine the association of Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence and MD components with health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in pregnant women from Spain and Sweden. A total of 138 ...pregnant women from Spain (age: 32.9 ± 4.6 years old) and 302 pregnant women from Sweden (age: 31.3 ± 4.1 years old) were included. MD adherence was assessed with the Mediterranean food pattern (i.e., a MD index) at the 14-16th gestational weeks. HRQoL was assessed with the Spanish and Swedish versions of the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36 and RAND-36, respectively) at the 14-16th and 34-37th gestational weeks. A greater MD adherence was associated with better physical functioning, bodily pain, vitality, emotional role, and mental health in cross-sectional associations (2nd trimester) in the Spanish sample (all
< 0.05). Furthermore, a greater MD adherence was associated with lower bodily pain in both Spanish and Swedish samples (both
< 0.05) in the 3rd trimester. The associations of MD adherence with pain seem to be explained by a greater intake of fiber, fish, fruits, nuts, and legumes (all
< 0.05). A greater MD adherence, driven by a higher intake of fiber, fish, fruits, nuts, and legumes, was associated with lower pain throughout pregnancy in both Mediterranean and non-Mediterranean populations.
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