Summary of studies assessing PF and its relationship with maternal and neonatal health outcomes
| Health-related outcome | Related to PF | Assoc (-/+) | Statistics | Quality score (0–5) | Unrelated to PF | Quality score (0–5) | ||||
| Biblio no | Biblio no | |||||||||
| CRF | MF | Flexibility | Balance | Multidimensional | ||||||
| Maternal Health | ||||||||||
| Prepregnancy weight | 57 | – | r=−0.63, P=0.001 | 2 | ||||||
| Maternal HR at submaximal exercise | 108 | – | NR, P<0.05 | 1 | ||||||
| Duration of gestation | 63 | + | r=0.12, P=0.01 | 3 | ||||||
| 108 | 1 | |||||||||
| Physical activity practice | 95 | + | P=0.01 | 2 | ||||||
| Back pain | 126 | + | OR=1.09, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.17, P=0.022 | 2 | ||||||
| Anxiety | 158 | – | r=0.559, P=0.02 | 2 | ||||||
| Fall risk | 128 | – | P<0.0001 | 3 | ||||||
| 157 | – | P<0.001 | 2 | |||||||
| Pelvic girdle pain | 170 | + | P<0.001 | 4 | ||||||
| Birth | ||||||||||
| Length of labour in nulliparas | 57 | – | r=−0.65, P=0.05 | 2 | ||||||
| Second stage of labour | 108 | – | NR | 1 | ||||||
| Caesarean | 13 | – | NR, P<0.001 | 2 | ||||||
| Pain during contractions | 111 | + | r=0.67, P<0.001 | 2 | ||||||
| Fetal and neonatal health | ||||||||||
| Fetal umbilical artery pH | 68 | + | NR, P<0.001 | 2 | ||||||
| 13 | + | r=0.220, P<0.05 | 2 | |||||||
| Asphyxiated babies | 108 | – | NR, P<0.05 | 2 | ||||||
| Arterial umbilical cord PO2 | 13 | + | r=0.267, P<0.05 | 2 | ||||||
| 13 | + | r=0.237, P<0.05 | 2 | |||||||
| Arterial umbilical cord PCO2 | 13 | – | R=0.331, P<0.01 | 2 | ||||||
| Neonatal birth weight | 8 | + | r=0.27, P=0.048 | 3 | ||||||
| 115 | + | F (2182)=3.15, P=0.004 | 4 | |||||||
| 13 | + | r=0.191, P<0.05 | 2 | |||||||
| 93, 26 | 2,1 | |||||||||
| New-born length | 93 | |||||||||
| New-born head circumference | 93 | |||||||||
| Apgar Score | 93, 26 | 2,1 | ||||||||
Related to PF refers to those variables where authors found either a positive or negative association of the variable with PF levels. Unrelated to PF refers to those variables where authors could not find any association between the variable and PF.
+, direct association of the variable with PF; -, inverse association of the variable with PF; CRF, cardiorespiratory fitness; HR, heart rate; MF, muscular fitness; NR, not reported; PCO2, pressure of CO2; PF, physical fitness; PO2, pressure of O2.