Effectiveness of physical exercise in the control of arterial hypertension in adults: systematic review and meta-analysis

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14750580

Keywords:

arterial hypertension, adult, physical exercise, review, meta-analysis

Abstract

Introduction: high blood pressure (HBP) is the most common cardiovascular disease in adults. There are studies that suggest that physical exercise can be implemented as therapy and prophylaxis of HBP, given its hypotensive effects.

Objective: to systematically evaluate the effect of physical exercise on blood pressure levels in patients with high blood pressure, pooling evidence from randomized clinical trials.

Method: A systematic review was performed in accordance with the PRISMA statement. We searched electronic databases for randomized controlled trials between 2004 and 2024. Risk of Bias 2 was used to assess risk of bias. Subsequently, a meta-analysis was carried out using the inverse variance method for random models to evaluate the outcome variable through the difference in means.

Results: 11 trials were included in which aerobic exercise predominated as the main intervention exercise. The grouped analysis showed a difference between the blood pressure (BP) figures recorded before and after exercise: systolic BP (χ2=22.82; p<0.01), and diastolic BP (χ2=8.69; p<0.01), there was statistical evidence of heterogeneity among the included studies. The standard mean difference of systolic BP (-0.34) had a significant negative value 95 % CI (-0.63, -0.04); on the other hand, the difference in diastolic BP, although negative (-0.15), was not significant, 95 % CI (-0.81, 0.09).

Conclusions: aerobic exercise was the most used modality to explore the hypotensive effect. In general, the pooled statistical evidence from the studies analyzed suggests that performing physical exercise had positive repercussions on the control and reduction of blood pressure in hypertensive adults.

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References

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Published

2025-03-19

How to Cite

1.
Valdespino-Mendieta FO, Begoña-Zubero M, Wong-Silva J. Effectiveness of physical exercise in the control of arterial hypertension in adults: systematic review and meta-analysis. Rev Inf Cient [Internet]. 2025 Mar. 19 [cited 2025 Apr. 4];104:e4937. Available from: https://revinfcientifica.sld.cu/index.php/ric/article/view/4937

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Review Articles