The effectiveness of aerobic exercise for hypertensive population: A systematic review and meta-analysis

The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of different durations of aerobic exercise on hypertensive patients. Four electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science) were searched from their inception until July 2018. English publications and randomized controlled trials involving aerobic exercise treatment for hypertensive population were included. Two reviewers independently extracted the data. The Cochrane's Risk of Bias tool was used to assess the quality of included studies. In this systematic review, a total of 14 articles were included, involving 860 participants. The quality of the included studies ranged from moderate to high. The results of the meta-analysis showed that compared with the control group, significant effects of aerobic exercise were observed on reducing systolic blood pressure (SBP) (mean difference [MD] = -12.26 mm Hg, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -15.17 to -9.34, P < 0.05), diastolic blood pressure (DBP; MD = -6.12 mm Hg, 95% CI = -7.76 to -4.48, P < 0.05), and heart rate (MD = -4.96 bpm, 95% CI = -6.46 to -3.43, P < 0.05). In addition, significant reductions were observed in ambulatory DBP (MD = -4.90 mm Hg, 95% CI = -8.55 to -1.25, P < 0.05) and ambulatory SBP (MD = -8.77mm Hg, 95% CI = -13.97 to -3.57, P < 0.05). Therefore, aerobic exercise might be an effective treatment for blood pressure improvement in hypertensive patients. However, the effectiveness between the duration of different treatment needs to be well-designed and rigorous studies will be required to verify the dataset.