Effects of Prenatal Yoga on Women’s Psychological Stress, Cortisol and Immunoglobulin A across Pregnancy

• Main Authors: CHEN, PAO-JU, 陳寶如
• Other Authors: LIAW, JEN-JIUAN
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/3b6ra4

博士 === 國防醫學院 === 醫學科學研究所 === 106 === Background: Good maternal health can help predict public health challenges for families, communities, and health care systems by preventing preterm birth or child disability and enabling children to reach their full potential. Therefore, it is essential for clinicians to pay special attention to women’s health, especially during pregnancy, and to avoid the negative impacts on their family, community, and society. Purpose: The study’s aims were to examine the effects of prenatal yoga on women’s psychological stress, salivary cortisol and immunoglobulin A (IgA) during pregnancy. Methods: This prospective, longitudinal, randomized controlled trial recruited 94 healthy pregnant women from a prenatal clinic at a medical center in Taipei using convenience sampling. The participants were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 48) or control (n = 46) group using Clinstat block randomization. The intervention group received 70-minute yoga sessions led by a midwife certified as a yoga instructor twice a week for 20 weeks; the control group received only routine prenatal care. We collected all of the participants’ saliva in both groups before and after the intervention group received yoga (every month from 16 to 36 weeks gestation). The slivary cortisol and IgA levels were analysed using enzyme-linked immunoassay. The Pregnancy Stress Rating Scale (PSRS) questionnaire was administered before the first yoga session (baseline data) at 16 weeks gestation (GA), and again before the yoga at 20, 24, 28, 32 and 36 weeks’ GA. Results: The pregnant women in the intervention group had lower salivary cortisol (p < .001) and higher IgA (p < .001) levels immediately after yoga than those women in the control group, which did not receive treatment, as well as found that significant long-term effects on perceived psychological stress at 32 (p = .012) and 36 (p = .021) weeks GA were significantly lower, and salivary IgA levels at 32 (p = .018) weeks GA were significantly higher than those at 16 weeks gestation between the two groups. Conclusion: This study presented evidence that prenatal yoga could significantly reduce psychological stress and enhance immune function in pregnant women. Our study evidence can guide clinicians or midwives in providing prenatal yoga to pregnant women throughout the pregnancy. Maternity health care teams could work with personnel certified in prenatal yoga and provide individualized stress-relief interventions to pregnant women based on their needs.