Effect of exercise on cardiovascular risk in sedentary postmenopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Exercise training has cardiovascular benefits, but its effects on cardiovascular disease risk factors in sedentary postmenopausal women are uncertain. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to explore the effects of exercise on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in sedentary postmenopausal women.

A literature search was conducted on the Web of Science, Cochrane, PubMed, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and WanFang databases for studies published between January 2010 and January 2022. All publications relating to clinical randomized control trials on the effects of exercise on CVD risk factors in sedentary postmenopausal women were collected. A meta-analysis was performed using STATA 16.0. We assessed the quality of the included literature using the Cochrane risk bias assessment tool.

Of the 623 articles initially retrieved, 14 were included in the meta-analysis (250 and 223 individuals in the exercise and non-exercise groups, respectively). The meta-analysis showed that oxygen consumption [standardized mean difference (SMD) =1.21; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.38 to 2.05; P=0.004] and high-density lipoprotein (SMD =0.31; 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.54; P=0.008) were significantly higher in the exercise than non-exercise group; however, diastolic blood pressure (SMD =-0.81; 95% CI -1.38 to -0.24; P=0.005), systolic blood pressure (SMD =-0.98; 95% CI: -1.44 to -0.52; P=0.000), triglycerides (SMD =-0.48, 95% CI: -0.86 to -0.09; P=0.016), and body mass index (SMD =-0.94, 95% CI: -1.70 to -0.17; P=0.016) were markedly lower in the exercise group. There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in heart rate (SMD =-0.11; 95% CI: -0.92 to 0.70; P=0.796), cholesterol (SMD =-0.32; 95% CI: -0.79 to 0.15; P=0.186), or low-density lipoprotein (SMD =-0.23; 95% CI: -0.70 to 0.23; P=0.321).

Aerobic exercise not only increases oxygen consumption, but also reduces CVD-related factors, such as blood pressure, lipid profile, and body mass index, in sedentary menopausal women. Put simply, regular exercise is a beneficial lifestyle intervention that can reduce CVD risk.