SynthesisPeerJ2025
Sex differences in absolute and relative changes in muscle size following resistance training in healthy adults: a systematic review with Bayesian meta-analysis.
Synthesis in PeerJ, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of Resistance Training on Muscle Hypertrophy in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Muscle morphological adaptations to resistance training and sports participation in children and adolescents: a scoping review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Pooled it
- Acute Responses and Chronic Adaptations to Cluster Versus Traditional Set Resistance Training in Males and Females.European journal of sport science · 2026Trial
- Effects of a low-load multi-component training program with blood flow restriction versus the same program without blood flow restriction on muscle thickness and functional outcomes in physically inactive young adults: randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Trial
- Effects of Clenbuterol on Body Composition and Strength Following Resistance Training, Detraining, and Retraining in Healthy Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Article
- Elbow Flexor Adaptations to Failure Versus Repetitions-in-Reserve Training: A Unilateral Within-Participant Study in Resistance-Trained Adults.Muscles (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Time course and regional heterogeneity of hamstring muscle thickness after maximal concentric exercise in men and women.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Scoping review of UK female-firefighters, physical fitness and occupational performance.Occupational medicine (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Does Regional Muscle Distribution Predict Functional Capacity? Sex-Specific Insights from Bioimpedance and Performance Testing.Muscles (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The impact of exercise intervention on physical self-esteem of Chinese college students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Gender and Age-Related Decline in Lower Limb Standing Muscle Strength: Benchmarking for Rehabilitation Assessment.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Load-induced human skeletal muscle hypertrophy: Mechanisms, myths, and misconceptions.Journal of sport and health science · 2025Review
- Knowledge of gym goers on myths and truths in resistance training.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Quantification of weekly strength-training volume per muscle group in competitive physique athletes.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Hormones, Hypertrophy, and Hype: An Evidence-Guided Primer on Endogenous Endocrine Influences on Exercise-Induced Muscle Hypertrophy.Exercise and sport sciences reviews · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Muscle hypertrophy may be influenced by biological differences between males and females. This meta-analysis investigated Methods: Studies were included if male and female participants were healthy (18-45 years old) adults that completed the same RT intervention, and a measure of pre- to post-intervention changes in muscle size was included. Out of 2,720 screened studies, 29 studies were included in the statistical analysis. Bayesian methods were used to estimate a standardised mean difference (SMD), log response ratio (lnRR) with exponentiated percentage change (Exp. % Change of lnRR), and probability of direction ( Results: Absolute increases in muscle size slightly favoured males compared to females (SMD = 0.19 (95% HDI: 0.11 to 0.28); Conclusion: Our findings strengthen the understanding that females have a similar potential to induce muscle hypertrophy as males (particularly when considering relative increases in muscle size from baseline) and findings of our secondary analyses should inform future research that investigates sex differences in highly trained participants and muscle fibre type-specific hypertrophy.
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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.