RT doctoral thesis
T1 Influence of a physical exercise program, physical activity, sedentarism, body composition and physical fitness during pregnancy on body composition, physical fitness and neurocognition of the offspring:  the gestafitos project
T2 Influencia de un programa de ejercicio físico, actividad física, sedentarismo, composición corporal y condición física durante el embarazo sobre la composición corporal, condición física y neurocognición de la descendencia: proyecto Gestafitos
A1 Sánchez Parente, Sandra
A2 Didáctica de la Educación FísicaPlástica y Musical
AB In the absence of contraindications, current Guidelines encourage women toperform combined aerobic and resistance exercise (i.e., concurrent exercise) duringpregnancy to improve maternal and offspring health outcomes, as it has been shown tocontribute positively to a better metabolic intrauterine environment.Body composition is a strong determinant of birth complications and futurediseases. Exercise during pregnancy has been shown to contribute positively to a betterbody composition of both the mother and offspring, as it has been associated with reducedrisk of excessive gestational weight gain and a better control of offspring birth weight inhealthy ranges. Additionally, the increased prevalence of maternal obesity in recentdecades has occurred in parallel with the rise of macrosomia (defined as body weight atbirth > 4000 grams) and childhood obesity, suggesting an association between maternalbody composition and offspring body composition.Physical fitness is a powerful marker of health in general populations (i.e.,childhood, adulthood and elderly) and specific populations (including pregnant women),as higher levels of physical fitness have been related to a better self-rated health, boneand psychological health, cardiovascular or metabolic profile, lower levels of total andabdominal adiposity, higher academic performance and all-cause mortality.Neurocognition evolves from conception to after birth, setting the foundation forlifelong neurodevelopment. Several studies have shown that regular maternal exerciseinduces benefits for the fetal brain development.Understanding the influence of exercise and maternal body composition duringpregnancy on offspring body composition, as well as knowing whether exercise andphysical fitness during pregnancy may improve all or some components of offspringphysical fitness and their neurocognition might be of great importance for a better designof public health interventions, as it reflects prenatal conditions that can influence futuredevelopment and may offer a preventive strategy against future disorders.Despite this, physical exercise interventions during pregnancy are often not basedon programs specifically tailored to this stage. Moreover, most are designed at very lowintensity or focused on aerobic or resistance exercise uniquely, even though currentGuidelines recommend concurrent exercise to achieve greater health benefits. Therefore, the general aim of this International Doctoral Thesis was to evaluatethe influence of a concurrent physical exercise program during pregnancy on offspringbody composition, physical fitness, and neurocognition.Likewise, the specific aims were: (i) to analyze the influence of prenatal exerciseon Apgar score and childhood health-related physical fitness and to identify possibledifferences based on maternal age and pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) (study I);(ii) to conduct a post-hoc analysis to examine the effect of a supervised-concurrentexercise training program from the 16th gestational week until delivery on 1-month infantneuromotor skills based on maternal pre-pregnancy BMI (study II); (iii) to compare theeffect of different exercise interventions on offspring body weight and adequate valuesof body weight at birth, 6 and 12 months of age (study III); (iv) to systematically explorethe influence of prenatal exercise, maternal physical activity, and physical fitness duringpregnancy on offspring neurodevelopment up to 5 years of age (study IV); (v) toinvestigate the effects of a supervised concurrent exercise training program duringpregnancy on children’s intelligence at 4-5 years of age (study V); (vi) to assess theassociation of maternal sedentary time and physical activity during pregnancy onchildren’s intelligence at 4-5 years of age, and to explore potential sex-related differences(study VI); and (vii) to assess the influence of maternal morphometrics in late pregnancyon offspring morphometrics at birth, 6, and 12 months of age, and examine variation byinfant sex and pre-pregnancy BMI (study VII).The main results showed that: (i) exercise during pregnancy improves Apgar score at 1and 5 minutes and reduces body weight at birth within normal values; there is limitedevidence about the influence of exercise during pregnancy on offspring health-relatedphysical fitness (study I). (ii) Concurrent exercise during pregnancy improves neuromotorskills in infants at 1 month of age in women with normal body weight; we observedlimited evidence about the influence of concurrent exercise during pregnancy on infantswhose mothers have overweight or obesity, and the potential mechanism behind the roleof maternal BMI in the development of infant neuromotor skills (study II). (iii) Aerobicexercise with a meal plan resulted in the most favorable outcomes regarding adequateoffspring body weight from birth to 12 months of age, whereas stretching showed theleast favorable results (study III). (iv) Maternal exercise and physical activity duringpregnancy improve offspring neurodevelopment; no studies were found that assessed theassociation of maternal physical fitness during pregnancy with offspring neurodevelopment (study IV). (v) A supervised concurrent exercise program duringpregnancy had a positive effect on verbal and composite intelligence of children at 4-5years; concurrent exercise during pregnancy seemed especially effective in verbalintelligence for male and female children, and composite intelligence mainly for males(study V). (vi) Moderate and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during pregnancywere associated with greater non-verbal and composite intelligence in children at 4-5years of age, while sedentary time and light physical activity showed no significantassociations (study VI). (vii) Maternal weight, BMI, and gestational weight gain in latepregnancy were positively associated with offspring morphometrics at birth, but onlygestational weight gain remained associated at 6 and 12 months of age (study VII).This International Doctoral Thesis provides evidence on the positive influence ofconcurrent exercise during pregnancy on body composition, neuromotor skills (i.e.,motor fitness) and neurocognition of the offspring. However, there is limited evidenceregarding the influence of concurrent exercise during pregnancy on offspringcardiorespiratory fitness and musculoskeletal fitness. Additionally, maternalmorphometrics during pregnancy were directly associated with offspring morphometricsat birth, 6, and 12 months of age, and moderate and moderate-to-vigorous physicalactivity during pregnancy were associated with greater non-verbal and compositeintelligence in children at 4-5 years of age. However, future studies are still necessary toknow the influence of maternal physical fitness during pregnancy on neurocognition ofthe offspring.
YR 2026
FD 2026
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/39656
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/39656
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 05-nov-2026