Preventing Gestational Diabetes Mellitus by Improving Healthy Diet and/or Physical Activity during Pregnancy: An Umbrella Review.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to evaluate the effects of diet and/or physical activity interventions during pregnancy on preventing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).
Results Summary
The study found that diet and physical activity interventions separately showed a protective role in preventing GDM, but combined interventions had unclear effects due to heterogeneity and low-quality systematic reviews. More high-quality studies are needed to establish definitive conclusions.
Population
Pregnant women at risk of or diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
diet interventions during pregnancy | decrease | gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) | pregnant women | - | defend the protective role | #1 |
physical activity interventions during pregnancy | decrease | gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) | pregnant women | - | defend the protective role | #2 |
combined diet and physical activity interventions during pregnancy | decrease | gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) | pregnant women | - | show a possible protective effect | #3 |
Several epidemiological studies have analyzed the effects of lifestyle modification on reducing the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM); however, their results remain inconsistent. This umbrella review aims to evaluate the effects of diet and/or physical activity interventions during pregnancy on preventing GDM. Systematic reviews and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials reporting preventive effects of diet and/or physical activity in reducing the incidence of GDM were included from PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Cochrane library. Two authors independently assessed the overlapping and quality of the 35 selected reviews using AMSTAR 2. The results, although variable, tend to defend the protective role of diet and physical activity interventions separately and independently of each other in the prevention of GDM. However, the results for the combined interventions show a possible protective effect; however, it is not entirely clear because most of the analyzed meta-analyses tend to approach 1, and heterogeneity cannot be ruled out. Establishing conclusions about the most efficient type of intervention and a dose-effect relationship was not feasible given the low quality of systematic reviews (83% low to critically low) and the variability in reporting interventions. Therefore, more studies with better quality and definition of the interventions are required. The protocol was previously registered in PROSPERO as CRD42021237895.