Abstract
Objective To evaluate the effect of aerobic exercise training on asthma control, lung function and airway inflammation in adults with asthma.
Design Systematic review and meta-analysis (PROSPERO-ID: CRD42019130156)
Methods Eligibility criteria: Randomised controlled trials investigating the effect of at least 8 weeks of aerobic exercise training on outcomes for asthma control, lung function and airway inflammation in adults with asthma. Information sources: Medline, EMBase, CINAHL, PEDro, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) were searched up to 3 April 2019. Risk of bias: Risk of bias was assessed by the “Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool”.
Results Included studies: We included 11 studies with a total of 543 adults with asthma. Participants' mean age was 36.5 years (range: 22 to 54 years); 74.8% of participants were women and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 27.6 kg·m−2 (range: 23.2 to 38.1 kg·m−2). Interventions had a median duration of 12 weeks (range: 8 to 12 weeks) and included walking, jogging, spinning, treadmill running and other unspecified exercise training programmes. Synthesis of results: Exercise training improved asthma control with a standard mean difference (SMD) of −0.48 (−0.81 to −0.16). Lung function slightly increased with an SMD of −0.36 (−0.72 to 0.00) in favour of exercise training. Exercise training had no apparent effect on markers of airway inflammation [SMD: −0.03 (−0.41 to 0.36)].
Conclusions In adults with asthma, aerobic exercise training has potential to improve asthma control and lung function but not airway inflammation.
Footnotes
This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Hansen has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Pitzner-Fabricius has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Toennsen has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Rasmusen has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Hostrup has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Hellsten has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Backer has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: Dr. Henriksen reports personal fees from Thuasne, outside the submitted work.
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- Received January 23, 2020.
- Accepted April 7, 2020.
- Copyright ©ERS 2020