Effectiveness of Workplace Exercise Interventions on Body Composition: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Guillermo García Pérez de Sevilla1, Fernando Cobo Vicente-Arche2, Israel John Thuissard2
1Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Sports Sciences, 16740Universidad Europea de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
Objective:
The aim of this review was to analyze the effectiveness of workplace exercise interventions on body composition (BC).
Data Source:
Studies published in PubMed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, CINAHL and PsycINFO, from the earliest time point until 8 July 2020.
Study Inclusion And Exclusion Criteria:
Inclusion criteria were worksite interventions, in adults, Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), real exercise practice, and measuring BC outcomes. Exclusion criteria were full-text non-available, abstract not in English, and exercise protocol missing.
Data Extraction:
157 studies were retrieved and assessed for inclusion by 2 independent reviewers, who also used the Cochrane's Collaboration Tool to assess study quality and risk of bias.
Data Synthesis:
We performed a meta-analysis to determine the effect size of the interventions on BC outcomes reported in at least 5 studies.
Results:
Twelve RCTs were included (n = 1270, 66% women), quality of studies being low to high (25% moderate, 67% high). Interventions achieved a statistically significant decrease in waist circumference (SMD = 0.24; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.06 to 0.41; p = 0.008), total mass fat (SMD = 0.21; 95%CI: 0.00 to 0.41; p = 0.047), and body adiposity index (SMD = 0.20; 95%CI: 0.00 to 0.41; p = 0.049). No changes were observed in body weight (SMD = 0.08 95%CI: -0.02 to 0.18; p = 0.128). Additionally, muscle mass increased in interventions that included strength training. There were no adverse events reported.
Conclusion:
The most effective workplace exercise interventions to improve BC combined supervised, moderate-intensity aerobic and strength training, for at least 4 months.
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