Purpose: to compare the blood pressure and oxygen consumption (VO(2)) responses between pregnant and non-pregnant women, during cycle ergometer exercise on land and in water.
Methods: ten pregnant (27 to 29 weeks of gestation) and ten non-pregnant women were enrolled. Two cardiopulmonary tests were performed on a cycle ergometer (water and land) at the heart rate corresponding to VO(2), over a period of 30 minutes each. Exercise measurements consisted of recording blood pressure every five minutes, and heart rate and VO(2) every 20 seconds. Two-way ANOVA was used and α=0.05 (SPSS 17.0).
Results: there was no difference in cardiovascular responses between pregnant and non-pregnant women during the exercise. The Pregnant Group demonstrated significant differences in systolic (131.6±8.2; 142.6±11.3 mmHg), diastolic (64.8±5.9; 74.5±5.3 mmHg), and mean blood pressure (87.0±4.1; 97.2±5.7 mmHg), during water and land exercise, respectively. The Non-pregnant women Group also had a significantly lower systolic (130.5±8.4; 135.9±8.7 mmHg), diastolic (67.4±5.7; 69.0±10.1 mmHg), and mean blood pressure (88.4±4.8; 91.3±7.8 mmHg) during water exercise compared to the land one. There were no significant differences in VO(2) values between water and land exercises or between pregnant and non-pregnant women. After the first five-minute recovery period, both blood pressure and VO(2) were similar to pre-exercise values.
Conclusions: for pregnant women with 27 to 29 weeks of gestation, water exercise at the heart rate corresponding to VO(2) is physiologically appropriate. These women also present a lower blood pressure response to exercise in water than on land.