Introduction. Women attain numerous benefits from physical activity during pregnancy. However, because of physical changes that occur during pregnancy, special precautions are also needed. This review summarizes current guidelines for physical activity among pregnant women worldwide. Methods. We searched PubMed (MedLINE) for country-specific governmental and clinical guidelines on physical activity during pregnancy through the year 2012. We cross-referenced with articles referring to guidelines, with only the most recent included. An abstraction form was used to extract key details and summarize. Results. In total, 11 guidelines were identified from 9 countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Japan, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom, United States). Most guidelines supported moderate-intensity physical activity during pregnancy (10/11) and indicated specific frequency (9/11) and duration/time (9/11) recommendations. Most guidelines provided advice on initiating an exercise program during pregnancy (10/11). Six guidelines included absolute and relative contraindications to exercise. All guidelines generally ruled-out sports with risks of falls, trauma, or collisions. Six guidelines included indications for stopping exercise during pregnancy. Conclusion. This review contrasted pregnancy-related physical activity guidelines from around the world, and can help inform new guidelines as they are created or updated and facilitate the development of a worldwide guideline.

To examine the association between gestational weight gain and maternal body mass index (BMI) among Vietnamese women and the risk of delivering an infant too small or too large for gestational age. A prospective health-facility-based study of 2989 pregnant Vietnamese women was conducted in the city of Nha Trang in 2007-2008. Cubic logistic regression was used to investigate the association of interest. Infants were classified into weight-for-gestational-age categories according to weight centiles for the Asian population. Gestational age was based on the date of last menstrual period and adjusted by the results of first-trimester ultrasound. BMI was low (< 18.5), normal (18.5-22.9) and high (≥ 23.0) in 26.1%, 65.4% and 8.5% of the women, respectively. In each of these BMI categories, the percentage of women who delivered infants too small for gestational age was 18.1, 10.0 and 9.4, respectively, and the mean gestational weight gain was 12.5 kg (standard deviation, SD: ± 3.6), 12.2 kg (SD: ± 3.8) and 11.5 kg (SD: ± 4.7), respectively. Among women with low BMI, the risk of delivering an infant too small for gestational age ranged from approximately 40% if the gestational weight gain was < 5 kg to 20% if it was 5-10 kg. Having a low BMI, commonly found in Viet Nam, puts women at risk of delivering an infant too small for gestational age, especially when total maternal gestational weight gain is < 10 kg.