Objectives: Every second 4.3 births occur in the world, signifying the magnitude and importance of pregnancy. This study looked at yoga interventions done from 2008 to December 2013 and examined whether yoga can be an efficacious approach for influencing maternal and birth outcomes in pregnancy.
Design: A systematic search of MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL, Alt HealthWatch, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and ACP Journal Club databases was conducted for quantitative articles of pregnancy involving all schools of yoga.
Results: A total of 15 articles met the inclusion criteria: 6 from the United States, 6 from India, 2 from Taiwan, and 1 each from Korea and Thailand. Of the 15 studies, 10 showed positive changes in maternal psychological or birth outcomes.
Conclusions: The included studies have some limitations. Nonetheless, yoga appears to be a promising intervention for pregnancy.