SynthesisSystematic reviews2018
Resting blood pressure reductions following handgrip exercise training and the impact of age and sex: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.
Synthesis in Systematic reviews, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effectiveness of combined exercise training for hypertension management: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.The Pan African medical journal · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effects of low-intensity isometric handgrip training on home blood pressure in hypertensive patients: a randomized controlled trial.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2025Trial
- Reductions in systolic blood pressure achieved by hypertensives with three isometric training sessions per week are maintained with a single session per week.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2023Trial
- Effects of isometric handgrip training on blood pressure among hypertensive patients seen within public primary healthcare: a randomized controlled trial.Sao Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicinaTrial
- Sex-based comparison of the blood pressure, haemodynamic and cardiac autonomic adaptations following isometric exercise training in sedentary adults: a randomised controlled trial.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2025Article
- Isometric Exercise Training and Arterial Hypertension: An Updated Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Review
- Review on the management of cardiovascular risk factors in the elderly.Journal of geriatric cardiology : JGC · 2022Article
- Acute cardiac autonomic and haemodynamic responses to leg and arm isometric exercise.European journal of applied physiology · 2022Article
- A Mixed Comparisons of Aerobic Training With Different Volumes and Intensities of Physical Exercise in Patients With Hypertension: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2021Review
- Cardiovascular Autonomic Function Changes and Predictors During a 2-Year Physical Activity Program in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A PARA 2010 Substudy.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Article
- Blood pressure lowering effects of a novel isometric exercise device following a 4-week isometric handgrip intervention.Open access journal of sports medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe risk of developing cardiovascular disease can be directly correlated to one's resting blood pressure (BP), age, and biological sex. Resting BP may be successfully reduced using handgrip exercise training, although the impact of age and sex on training effectiveness has yet to be systematically evaluated. The objective of this systematic review is to determine this impact of age and sex on handgrip-induced changes to resting BP.
methodsData sources included MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Reviews, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, AMED, PubMed, and Scopus through May 2018. Eligibility criteria were those with prospective handgrip exercise training of ≥ 4 weeks with reported impact on resting systolic BP (SBP). Screening of articles, data extraction, and quality appraisal were completed in duplicate. When necessary, the corresponding authors were contacted to provide segregated data based on age (younger, 18-54 years; aged, > 55 years) and sex (men, women) categories. SBP was primarily explored with numerous secondary outcomes of interest summarized as a narrative synthesis.
resultsAfter screening 1789 articles, 26 full texts were reviewed. Eight studies reported data in a way that facilitated age and sex comparisons of primary outcomes, while 7 of 18 studies reporting pooled data (men and women) provided segregated results. Research spans 1992-2018 and represents 466 participants; at least 43.1% of whom are women. Although weighted mean differences reveal that handgrip training-induced SBP reductions are similar when merely comparing sexes (women; - 5.6 mmHg, men; - 4.4 mmHg) or ages (younger; - 5.7 mmHg, aged; - 4.4 mmHg), when the impact of sex and age is simultaneously evaluated, aged women experience the largest reduction in SBP (- 6.5 mmHg). Many factors were explored for their impact on resting BP reductions and have been summarized in the corresponding narrative synthesis.
conclusionsHandgrip exercise is an effective modality for resting BP reduction resulting in clinically significant reductions for men and women of all ages. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42015019792.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.