Walking and Dietary Modification for Women With Consecutive Early Miscarriages: a Randomized Study

Detailed Summary

This study is part of a big one aiming to evaluate how lifestyle interventions during pregnancy affect obstetric results, neonatal metabolism and the intelligence of the offspring (study not yet completed). Data regarding obstetric and neonatal results were entered in NCT01409382, but we decided to split results in two for the sake of clarity. A cohort of women with early pregnancy losses without antiphospholipid antibodies was selected for two reasons. One is that these women follow strictly the recommendadtions. The second is that no medication has been shown to increase the rate of take-home babies in women with early miscarriages who test negative for antiphospholipid antibodies. We decided to focus on the fibrinolytic system because trophoblast migration and placental vasculogenesis and angiogenesis depend on plasmin-dependent extracellular matrix remodeling. Plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1 inhibits the generation of plasmin. Since both glucose and insulin increase PAI-1 synthesis, hyperglycemia itself, or by stimulating insulin production, reduces plasmin generation, which may impair placentation. Abnormalities in glucose metabolism may be also deleterious to embryos by causing epigenetic changes. Chromosomal abnormalities are considered an important cause of early pregnancy losses. Several lines of evidence lend support to the hypothesis that carbohydrate metabolism abnormalities contribute to the pathogenesis of recurrent early pregnancy losses. One is that of the pregnancies of the women with polycystic ovary syndrome, around 30 and 50% end with first-trimester miscarriages. Hyperinsulinemia is a prevalent feature of the syndrome, and interventions proven effective in reducing insulin levels, such as metformin, have been shown to reduce the rate of early miscarriages. The other is that patients with body mass index of ≥25 kg/m2 have significantly higher odds of early miscarriage, regardless of the method of conception. The investigator's hypothesis was that a balanced diet combined to regular exercise, by improving glucose homeostasis, would increase the take-home baby rate in women with consecutive early miscarriages. Moderate exercises are usually well tolerated not only by the mother, but also by the fetus, as indicated by tests of fetal well-being, including umbilical artery systolic to diastolic ratio.

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