Review finds aerobic exercise lowers blood pressure in women
A review of 23 trials involving 1,135 postmenopausal women with hypertension associated aerobic exercise with lower blood pressure and a modest increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; evidence for low-density lipoprotein reduction was inconclusive.
Published Nov. 3, the systematic review pooled 23 randomized controlled trials involving 1,135 postmenopausal women with hypertension. Compared with control conditions, aerobic exercise was associated with average reductions of 8.98 mmHg in systolic and 4.64 mmHg in diastolic blood pressure.1
The authors noted substantial between-study heterogeneity, and rated the certainty of evidence for primary outcomes as moderate. The analysis also found a modest increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, while the effect on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was inconclusive.1
For trainers, the findings are specific to postmenopausal women with hypertension; the authors called for more standardized trials to clarify lipid effects.1
