A comparison of the impact of exercise training with weight loss diet versus weight loss diet alone on blood pressure in individual with overweight or obesity: a systemic review and meta-analysis

Exercise training and weight loss diet are known to be effective interventions for improving blood pressure control. However, there is no comprehensive meta-analytical study comparing the effect of exercise with weight loss diet versus weight loss diet alone on blood pressure in individual with overweight and obesity.

The PubMed and Cochrane Library Magiran, Sid and Google Scholar databases were searched until February 2016 for Persian and English articles. Meta-analyses were conducted to compare the effect exercise training with weight loss diet compared to weight loss diet alone. Therefore, WMD and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using a random or fixed effect models. Moreover, I2 test was used to determine heterogeneity and funnel plot and Egger test was used to determine publication bias.

The results of meta-analysis of 48 interventions showed that exercise training with diet has significant effects on reducing systolic blood pressure at the rate of 1.53 mm Hg compared to diet alone [-1.53, (CI:-2.44 to -0.62), p=0.001]. Also, exercise with diet leads to a significant reduction in diastolic blood pressure at the rate of 1.50 mm Hg compared to diet alone [-1.50 (CI:-2.35 to -0.65), p < 0.001].

The results of the present study showed that adding exercise training to the weight loss diet could have more effects on lowering blood pressure.