The effect of concurrent endurance and resistance training on cardio-respiratory capacity and cardiovascular risk markers among sedentary overweight or obese post-menopausal women

The effects of combined exercise training on glucose metabolism and inflammatory markers in sedentary adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the magnitude of the effect of combined exercise training on glucose metabolism markers, adipokines, and inflammatory cytokines in non-diabetic sedentary adults. PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library electronic databases and reference lists of included studies were explored for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that included physically inactive adults and provided combined training interventions (aerobic plus resistance exercise). Effects on fasting glucose and insulin, Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR), HbA1c, adiponectin, leptin, IL-6, TNF-α, and C-reactive protein (CRP) in exercise vs control groups were analyzed using random effects meta-analysis. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool for Randomized Trials 2.0 (RoB 2) was used to assess the risk of bias. A total of 24 RCTs were included in the quantitative analysis. Combined exercise training significantly decrease fasting glucose (standardized mean difference, SMD: - 0.474, 95% CI [- 0.829, - 0.120], p = 0.009, 35 study arms), fasting insulin (SMD: - 1.024, 95% CI [- 1.502, - 0.545], p < 0.001, 27 study arms), HOMA-IR (SMD: - 0.946, 95% CI [- 1.450, - 0.442], p < 0.001, 23 study arms), TNF-α (SMD: - 0.972, 95% CI [- 1.361, - 0.582], p < 0.001, 10 study arms), and CRP (SMD: - 0.507, 95% CI [- 0.818, - 0.196], p = 0.001, 14 study arms). No significant effects were observed for HbA1c, adiponectin, leptin, and IL-6 levels. Random effects meta-regression models by age, sex, and intervention length were not able to explain any of the variation in the effect size of HOMA-IR. Findings from this systematic review and meta-analysis suggest that combined exercise training improves some glucose metabolism markers and inflammatory parameters in sedentary adults without diabetes.

The impact of exercise training on inflammatory markers in postmenopausal women: A systemic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The postmenopausal stage of life is associated with increased systemic inflammation that may be mitigated through exercise training. The effects of exercise training on inflammatory markers in postmenopausal women, however, require further elucidation. We therefore performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the available high-quality research on the effects of exercise training on inflammatory markers in postmenopausal women.

METHOD

Electronic searches in PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Web of Science, and Google Scholar were conducted to identify articles published through April 2021, for studies comparing exercise training to a control condition, on inflammatory markers including CRP, IL-6, TNF-α and adiponectin in postmenopausal women. Randomized or non-randomized controlled trials of exercise training were included according to the following criteria: (A) English language articles; (B) involving women participants who were post-menopausal; (C) providing measures of inflammatory markers including IL-6, TNF-α, CRP or adiponectin at baseline and after completion of the intervention; (D) an exercise training intervention duration of ≥4 weeks.

RESULTS

Results were extracted from the included studies and standardized mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated. Thirty-two studies (representing 38 intervention groups) involving 1510 postmenopausal women were retrieved from the databases for analyses. Overall, exercise training significantly reduced IL-6 [-0.75 (95% CI: -1.07 to -0.42), p < 0.001; 20 interventions], TNF-α [-0.64 (95% CI: -0.91 to -0.37), p < 0.001; 24 interventions] and CRP [-0.64 (95%CI: -0.91 to -0.38), p < 0.001; 21 interventions] and increase adiponectin [0.98 (95% CI: 0.10 to 1.86), p = 0.02; 6 interventions], when compared with control. Furthermore, subgroup analyses suggested that aerobic, resistance, and combined training significantly reduced IL-6, TNF-α and CRP (p < 0.05). Exercise training improved IL-6, TNF-α and CRP in both younger (age < 64 years) and older (age ≥ 64 years) participants (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that exercise training may be an effective intervention for reducing pro-inflammatory markers and increasing adiponectin in postmenopausal women.