Trial reportBMC pregnancy and childbirth2014
Antenatal exercise in overweight and obese women and its effects on offspring and maternal health: design and rationale of the IMPROVE (Improving Maternal and Progeny Obesity Via Exercise) randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of Pregnancy Diet with Metabolic Adverse Outcomes in Pregnant Women and Their Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Annals of nutrition & metabolism · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of physical activity on sex hormones in women: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2015Pooled it
- Diet or exercise, or both, for preventing excessive weight gain in pregnancy.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Trial
- Effectiveness of Adherence to Antenatal Exercise on Labor Duration in Normal Vaginal Delivery.Cureus · 2026Article
- Fetal programming of obesity and type 2 diabetes.World journal of diabetes · 2022Review
- Sport, doping and female fertility.Reproductive biology and endocrinology : RB&E · 2018Review
- Maternal obesity and neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in offspring.Prenatal diagnosis · 2017Review
- Maternal lifestyle characteristics during pregnancy, and the risk of obesity in the offspring: a study of 5,125 children.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2015Article
- Physiological mechanisms of vascular response induced by shear stress and effect of exercise in systemic and placental circulation.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2014Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundObesity during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes for the offspring and mother. Lifestyle interventions in pregnancy such as antenatal exercise, are proposed to improve both short- and long-term health of mother and child. We hypothesise that regular moderate-intensity exercise during the second half of pregnancy will result in improved maternal and offspring outcomes, including a reduction in birth weight and adiposity in the offspring, which may be protective against obesity in later life. METHODS/
designThe IMPROVE (Improving Maternal and Progeny Risks of Obesity Via Exercise) study is a two-arm parallel randomised controlled clinical trial being conducted in Auckland, New Zealand. Overweight and obese women (BMI ≥25 kg/m2) aged 18-40 years, with a singleton pregnancy of <20 weeks of gestation, from the Auckland region, are eligible for the trial. Exclusion criteria are ongoing smoking or medical contra-indications to antenatal exercise.Participants are randomised with 1:1 allocation ratio to either intervention or control group, using computer-generated randomisation sequences in variable block sizes, stratified on ethnicity and parity, after completion of baseline assessments. The intervention consists of a 16-week structured home-based moderate-intensity exercise programme utilising stationary cycles and heart rate monitors, commencing at 20 weeks of gestation. The control group do not receive any exercise intervention. Both groups undergo regular fetal ultrasonography and receive standard antenatal care. Due to the nature of the intervention, participants are un-blinded to group assignment during the trial.The primary outcome is offspring birth weight. Secondary offspring outcomes include fetal and neonatal body composition and anthropometry, neonatal complications and cord blood metabolic markers. Maternal outcomes include weight gain, pregnancy and delivery complications, aerobic fitness, quality of life, metabolic markers and post-partum body composition. DISCUSSION: The results of this trial will provide valuable insights on the effects of antenatal exercise on health outcomes in overweight and obese mothers and their offspring.
trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12612000932864.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.