Sex Differences in Effects of Exercise on Physical Function in Aging: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis
Rubén Fernández-Rodríguez1, Vicente Martínez-Vizcaíno1,2, Sara Reina-Gutiérrez1
1Department of Physiotherapy, Nursing and Occupational Therapy, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Health and Social Research Center, Cuenca, Spain.
Purpose:
Our objective was to synthesize and determine whether there are sex differences in physical function following exercise interventions in older adults.
Materials And Methods:
A systematic search was conducted in four databases from inception to July 8th, 2023 searching for prospective trials that conducted exercise interventions in older adults and results for physical function were reported by sex. Pooled standardized mean differences (SMDs) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using a randomeffects method. The Sidik-Jonkman estimator was used to calculate the variance of heterogeneity (I²).
Results:
A total of 19 studies involving 20,133 older adults (mean age ≥60 years, 33.7% female) were included. After exercise interventions, males reported significantly greater pre-post changes compared to females for upper body strength (SMD=-0.40, 95% CI: -0.71 to -0.09; I²=75.6%; n=8), lower body strength (SMD=-0.32, 95% CI: -0.55 to -0.10; I²=52.0%; n=11), and cardiorespiratory fitness (SMD=-0.29, 95% CI: -0.48 to -0.10; I²=89.1%; n=12). Conversely, the pooled SMDs showed a significant effect favoring females for motor fitness (SMD=0.21, 95% CI: 0.03 to 0.39; I²=0%; n=7). Limited and inconsistent results were observed for flexibility.
Conclusions:
Our study suggests the existence of sex-related differences on physical function after an exercise intervention in the older population.
Related Concept Videos
01:27Exercise and Muscle Performance
Endurance exercises
Endurance exercises involve running, swimming, or cycling, which require repetitive movements with low force output. When a person engages in endurance exercise, a few noticeable changes occur in their skeletal muscles. For instance, the number of capillaries...
01:19The Effect of Aging on Tissues
01:20Exercise and Cardiovascular Response
Light to moderate physical activity initiates a series of interconnected responses in the body. The heart rate modestly increases in anticipation of the workout, followed by widespread vasodilation as oxygen consumption by skeletal muscles increases. This results in decreased peripheral resistance, increased capillary blood flow, and accelerated...
01:29Bone Disorders
Bone deposition is also affected by the levels of sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone that promote osteoblast activity and bone matrix synthesis. When the level of these hormones decreases due to aging, it causes a reduction in bone deposition. As a result, bone resorption by osteoclasts...
01:17Exercise and Cardiac Output
Sustained exercise increases the muscles' oxygen demand, which can be...
01:26Aging
Cellular Clock Theory
The cellular clock theory posits that the human lifespan is closely tied to the finite capacity of cells to divide, a phenomenon governed by telomeres, which are protective caps at the ends of...