The impact of whole-body cryotherapy on lipid profile: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) is an already proven method of supportive therapy in somatic medicine. Emerging evidence suggests that WBC might exert beneficial effects on lipid profile; however, studies in this field have provided mixed findings.

We aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies investigating the impact of WBC on lipid profile.

Electronic databases (the MEDLINE, the ERIC, the CINAHL Complete, the International Pharmaceutical Abstracts as well as the Academic Search Ultimate and the Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition) were searched from their inception until 25th April 2020. Meta-analysis was performed using random-effects models and Hedges g' was calculated as the effect size estimate.

We identified seven eligible studies. Pooled data analysis revealed significantly lower levels of triglycerides after WBC. Sensitivity analysis also demonstrated significantly lower levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) after removing single studies. Meta-regression analysis showed that lower baseline body mass index (BMI) was significantly associated with greater changes in the levels of total cholesterol and LDL during WBC.

Our findings imply that WBC may exert beneficial effects on the lipid profile in terms of lowering the levels of total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides. Lower BMI may predict a greater improvement of lipid profile during WBC. However, caution should be taken as to the way our results are being interpreted due to low number of studies and considerable methodological heterogeneity of studies included in our meta-analysis.