SynthesisAfrican health sciences2022
Effects of hypohydration and fluid balance in athletes' cognitive performance: a systematic review.
Synthesis in African health sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Exploring the gut-exercise link: A systematic review of gastrointestinal disorders in physical activity.World journal of gastroenterology · 2025Pooled it
- Acute weight cycling and hydration status in elite kickboxers: a repeated-measures field study.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Physiological and cortical determinants of exercise tolerance in sedentary women with obesity.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- Integrating Cognitive and Mood Assessments into the Heat Tolerance Test for Male Soldiers After Exertional Heat Injury: A Prospective Observational Study.Sports medicine - open · 2025Article
- Hypohydration is evident in elite orienteering athletes during a two-day race: a descriptive study.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Hydration Strategies in Older Adults.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Hydration Status, Dietary Habits, and Functional Food Consumption Preferences of Football Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Hydration Considerations to Improve the Physical Performance and Health of Firefighters.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Review
- Design, Calibration and Morphological Characterization of a Flexible Sensor with Adjustable Chemical Sensitivity and Possible Applications to Sports Medicine.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- It's just how we do it: social processes in rapid weight loss for combat sports.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2024Article
- Impact of Preparticipation Hypohydration on Cognitive Performance and Concussion-like Symptoms in Recreational Athletes.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Young Artistic Gymnasts Drink Ad Libitum Only Half of Their Fluid Lost during Training, but More Fluid Intake Does Not Influence Performance.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Sexual reproductive health, NCDs and infectious diseases.African health sciences · 2022Article
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
Background: The effects of progressive body fluid loss on athletic and cognitive performance are known to result from exposure to environmental heat stress, morphologic factors, and limited fluid replenishment. Athletes need to restore lost body water. However, athletes may fail to maintain euhydration during exercise. This systematic review investigated hypohydration and fluid balance effects on an athlete's cognitive function. Methods: The PubMed, Sports Discuss, and Ebsco databases were searched for studies reporting on hypohydration, fluid balance and heat on cognitive performance in sport. Multiple phrases including hydration, dehydration, fluid balance, mood, cognition, vigilance, decision making, and brain were explored. Participants in the studies did either receive fluid or did not receive fluid during exercise. Results: Twenty-four trials (n=493 participants) from 24 articles met the inclusion criteria. Significant hypohydration, >2% body mass loss was reported consistently in 16 publications. Five articles where hypohydration was associated with heat stress and limited fluid intake (3-5% body mass loss) impaired cognitive performance. Mood disturbance, fatigue, and ratings of perceived exertion constantly complemented hypohydration impairment on cognition. Conclusion: Findings show that hypohydration impairs cognitive performance and mood at higher levels of 3-5% body mass loss. However, sport-specific cognitive protocols of accessing hypohydration and fluid balance in individual and team sports remain equivocal.
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Registered trials
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