The effect of acute and chronic exercise on circulating GDF-15: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) is a cytokine with anti-inflammatory effects, which the influences of acute and chronic exercise on it are not clearly known. Therefore, the aim of the present meta-analysis was to determine the effect of the acute and chronic exercise on circulating GDF15.

To extract original articles published in Farsi and English language journals, a comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Magiran, Noormags and SID databases until December 22, 2022. Two separate meta-analyses were performed to calculate the effect size of standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval for the acute and chronic effects of exercise on GDF15.

A total of 18 studies including 551 subjects were included in the meta-analysis. The results showed that acute exercise activity leads to a significant increase in GDF15 [P=0.001, (1.65 to 0.80 CI: 1.23)], while chronic exercise activity had no significant effect on GDF15 [P=0.24, (0.96 to 0.24-CI: 0.35)].

Exercise leads to a transient and short-term increase in GDF15, which may contribute to the beneficial metabolic effects of exercise.