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Cited by 21Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and PostpartumMaternal and Perinatal Health InterventionsPregnancy-related medical research

Effectiveness of nonpharmacological interventions for reducing postpartum fatigue: a meta-analysis

Open access
Qian, Jialu, Sun, Shiwen, Liu, Lu, Yu, Xiaoyan·2021·BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
DOI 10.1186/s12884-021-04096-7PMC PMC8442348
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Abstract

Background: Postpartum fatigue is the most common issue among postnatal women and it could not only seriously affect the health of mothers but also bring about adverse impacts on their offspring. This meta-analysis aims to synthesize nonpharmacological evidence and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions for reducing postpartum fatigue among puerperae. Methods: The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL and ProQuest databases were searched for papers published from inception until June 2021. Grey literature was searched using OpenGrey. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or controlled clinical trials (CCTs) evaluating nonpharmacological interventions conducted during 0 ~ 78 weeks postpartum for fatigue reduction were eligible for inclusion. The methodological quality of the included studies was independently assessed by two reviewers using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool and the risk of bias in nonrandomized studies of interventions. Cohen’s kappa coefficient was used to measure inter-rater agreement. The meta-analysis was conducted using Review Manager 5.3. Results: Seventeen published clinical trials matched the eligibility criteria and ten studies involving 1194 participants were included in this meta-analysis. The intervention start time varied from immediately postpartum care to 1 year after delivery, and duration ranged from 1 day to 3 months. The results revealed that exercise (SMD = − 1.74, 95% CI = -2.61 to − 0.88) and drinking tea (MD = − 3.12, 95% CI = -5.44 to − 0.80) resulted in significant improvements in women’s postpartum fatigue at postintervention. Drinking tea may have beneficial effects on depression (MD = − 2.89, 95% CI = -4.30 to − 1.49). Positive effects of psychoeducational interventions on postpartum fatigue or depression were not observed. Physical therapies including mother-infant skin-to-skin contact, taking warm showers and breathing lavender oil aroma were used for reducing postpartum fatigue. No significant risk of publication bias was found. Small number of included studies and sample sizes, not time-matched conditions of control groups, high heterogeneity and the risk of bias within the included studies were the main limitations of our review. Conclusions: This review provides evidence that exercise and drinking tea may be effective nonpharmacological interventions for relieving postpartum fatigue. More effective and targeted exercise programs need to be further studied. Rigorous RCTs of drinking tea are needed. Caution is required when interpreting the findings due to the limitations of our study. Further studies are still needed to validate our findings and increase confidence in the results.

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  • Postpartum physical activity and non-pharmacological interventions can improve fatigue and physical functioning.

    “Broader evidence indicates that postpartum physical activity and non-pharmacological interventions can improve fatigue and phys­ ical functioning (Qian et al., 2021)”

    From Extending the continuum: Mapping post-6-week nurse/midwife-led interventions for postnatal women – A scoping review (2026) · cites this paper as Qian et al., 2021

    The Discussion (Main findings; page not provided) reports that exercise significantly reduced postpartum fatigue, and the Conclusions say exercise and drinking tea may reduce it. The paper does not report an improvement in physical functioning; its listed outcomes concern fatigue and psychological measures. It also does not find that every type of nonpharmacological intervention is effective. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Authors
Qian, J., Sun, S., Liu, L., & Yu, X.
Affiliations
Women's Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University (CN)
Corresponding author
Yu, Xiaoyan
ORCID
Venue
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2021-09-14
Volume
21
Issue
1
Pages
622-622
ISSN
1471-2393 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s12884-021-04096-7
PMC
PMC8442348
OpenAlex
W3201057061
Cited by
21
References
55
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 2
FWCI
0.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
Medical and Health Research Project of Zhejiang Province (2020KY173)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Pregnancy-related medical research
Keywords
postpartum fatigue, non-pharmacological treatment, physical activity, tea consumption, postpartum depression, psychoeducational intervention, skin-to-skin contact, puerperae, maternal health, postpartum care, physiotherapy, maternal-infant bonding, postpartum care services
MeSH terms
Clinical Trial Protocols as Topic, Depression, Fatigue, Female, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Mother-Child Relations, Pregnancy, Tea, Exercise, Depression, Postpartum, Postpartum Period

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