(P10-085-24) The Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine As the Foundation for Intervention Protocols Aimed at Mitigating Gestational Weight Gain

Objectives: Carry out a narrative literature review to analyze the extent to which lifestyle medicine components are present in intervention protocols that focus on reducing gestational weight gain, going beyond the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine.

Methods: This narrative literature review drew upon clinical trial data available in the scientific literature, focused on lifestyle interventions and their impact on gestational weight gain. The six pillars of lifestyle medicine were considered: nutrition, physical activity, sleep, control of toxic substances, stress and relationships. The literature search was carried out in March 2022 and updated in September 2023 in indexed databases using terms defined by the Medical Subject Headings of the United States National Library of Medicine and the Health Sciences Descriptions. The review considered studies from the last ten years.

Results: In total, 120 studies were identified, of which 20 were eligible for inclusion. This review study demonstrated that many interventions aimed at monitoring body weight gain are outside the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (2009). Often, during prenatal care, intrauterine aspects related to the pregnant woman become the focus for monitoring the baby; comparatively little monitoring addresses women's own health.

As a result, factors such as stress, work overload and lack of sleep can be left aside during consultations. This fact was evident in the interventions included in the present study, when observing that the pillars included in the protocols were, almost exclusively, focused on healthy eating and physical activity.

Conclusions: Most protocols for monitoring and preventing excessive weight gain during pregnancy have included two components of lifestyle medicine: healthy eating, and physical activity. The pillars of stress control, sleep hygiene and building and strengthening relationships were rarely included in the intervention protocols evaluated. The protocols differ greatly in terms of the number of sections, nutritional guidelines, use of behavior change tools, and intensity and duration of physical exercise, which makes it difficult to fully analyze the lifestyle medicine components present in the protocols.

Funding Sources: This study did not receive any funding sources.