Sedentary postmenopausal women not undergoing hormone replacement therapy can have their blood pressure lowered by performing resistance training: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Aim: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed at examining the literature regarding the effects of resistance training (RT) on blood pressure (BP) in postmenopausal women. Methods: The Pubmed, Scopus, Embase, and BVS databases were accessed by two independent reviewers between July 2020, and June 2021 to search for studies that investigated the effects of RT on BP. The eligibility criteria were determined by the PICOT strategy. P: postmenopausal women, I: RT, in which training variables are presented, C: presence of a control group that does not receive any type of intervention, O: BP measured in both groups, at least before and after the intervention, T: randomized controlled trial. For the studies included in the meta-analysis, we calculated the effects sizes based on the net changes in the systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) BP for a random effect model with a confidence interval of 95% and a statistical significance of p < 0.05. Results: The RT group presented a significantly lower SBP (−7.25 mmHg [95% CI: −14.04, −0.45], p = 0.04), while DBP was not statistically significantly different compared to controlled conditions (−2.54 mmHg [95% CI: −5.52, 0.44], p = 0.09). Conclusions: Physically-inactive postmenopausal women who did not take hormone replacement but performed RT exercise had a lower BP value when compared to the control group.