de Sousa EC, et al. – This study was designed to assess the alterations in systolic and diastolic blood pressure subsequent to resistance training alone in prehypertensive and hypertensive individuals. Accumulated evidence demonstrated that resistance training alone reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure in prehypertensive and hypertensive subjects. The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) studies on this topic were found to be supportive of the recommendation of resistance training as a tool for management of systemic hypertension.

Methods

• This meta-analysis followed the guidelines of PRISMA.
• By November 2016, search for articles was realized, using the following electronic databases: BIREME, PubMed, Cochrane Library, LILACS and SciELO and a search strategy that included the combination of titles of medical affairs and terms of free text to the key concepts: ‘hypertension’ ‘hypertensive’, ‘prehypertensive’, ‘resistance training’, ‘strength training’, and ‘weight-lifting’.
• Researchers combined these terms with a search strategy to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Results

• They identified a total of 1608 articles: 644 articles BIREME, 53 SciELO, 722 PubMed, 122 Cochrane Library and 67 LILACS.
• They noted that out of these, five RCTs met the inclusion criteria and provided data on 201 individuals.
• Findings demonstrated significant reductions for systolic blood pressure (-8.2 mm Hg CI -10.9 to -5.5;I²: 22.5% P valor for heterogeneity=0.271 and effect size= -0.97) and diastolic blood pressure (-4.1 mm Hg CI -6.3 to -1.9; I²: 46.5% P valor for heterogeneity=0.113 and effect size=-0.60) when compared to group control.