Meta-analysis of the effectiveness of exercise in reducing blood pressure of postmenopausal hypertensive women

Study design: Systematic review/metanalysis. Objective: To determine the effectiveness of exercise in reducing systolic and diastolic systemic blood pressure in postmenopausal hypertensive women. Methodology: A metanalysis type review of original articles published between 2004-2014 in the databases LILACS, SCIELO, PubMed and BIREME.. Results: Ten studies that evaluated the effect of exercise in postmenopausal hypertensive women were considered in the present metanalysis totalizing 192 women in the experimental group and 177 women in the control group. The majority of the studies (five) determined the effect of aerobic exercise combined with resistance exercise. Data metanalysis showed that physical exercise promoted a reduction in systolic and diastolic systemic blood pressure [systolic:-7,4 (-10,4 a -4,5) mmHg; mean and CI95% respectively P<0,0001; Z= 4,95] and [diastolic: -4,4 (-6,1 a -2,7) mmHg, mean and CI95% respectively; P<0,0001; Z= 5,22]. Conclusion: Physical exercise is effective in reducing high blood pressure in hypertensive postmenopausal women. Better results were observed in the studies in which exercise was practiced for longer periods particularly in those that combined aerobic exercise with resistance exercise