Efficacy of Yoga Exercise to Reduce Anxiety in Pregnancy: A Meta-Analysis using Randomized Controlled Trials

Abstract

Background : Anxiety can have a negative impact on mothers and infants. Anxiety can cause prematurity, impaired motor development, mental and emotional development of children. This study aimed to examine efficacy of yoga on reducing anxiety in pregnant women. Subjects and Method : This was a meta-analysis. As many as 6 randomized control trials (RCT) were extracted from Pubmed, Science Direct, Springer, Proquest, and Cochrane databases. A sample of 426 pregnant women who took yoga exercises for 4-12 weeks was selected for this study. The data were analyzed in RevMan 5.3. Results: Yoga exercise reduce anxiety in pregnant women (SMD= -0.48; 95% CI= -0.92 to -0.03; p= 0.030). Conclusion : Yoga is effective to reduce anxiety in pregnant women. Keywords : Yoga exercise, anxiety, pregnant women, randomized control trials, meta-analysis Correspondence:\xa0 Sintia Ayu Ningrum. Masters Program in Public Health, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Jl. Ir. Sutami No. 36 A, Surakarta, Central Java. Email: [email protected]. Mobile: +6283866810777. Journal of Maternal and Child Health (2019), 4(2): 118-125 https://doi.org/10.26911/thejmch.2019.04.02.07