Functional testing in pregnancy

What is it about?

This paper provides recommendations for completing functional haemodynamic tests in pregnant populations. These recommendations provide a description, an overview of the current understanding of the clinical application, the general design, required equipment, and considerations of submaximal aerobic exercise, isometric handgrip and the cold pressor test during pregnancy.

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Why is it important?

Functional haemodynamic testing before or during early pregnancy may enable the early identification of women at risk of developing pregnancy-related cardiovascular complications. This may aid the management of these women during their pregnancy to reduce health risks to both mother and baby. Currently, there is a lack of evidence in this area to enable this early risk stratification. This paper provides the rationale and methods of how functional haemodynamic testing can be further investigated in future research.