The effects of exercise training on body composition in postmenopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Mousa Khalafi, Sara K Rosenkranz, Mahsa Ehsanifar, Mallikarjuna Korivi, Yubo Liu, Aref Habibi Maleki, Mohammad Javad Pourvaghar, Mohammad Hossein Sakhaei, Hadis Bayat

Journal: Frontiers in endocrinology 2023;14():1183765

PMID: 37388207

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Abstract

INTRODUCTION

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the effect of exercise training on body composition outcomes in postmenopausal women.

METHODS

PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Medline were searched to identify the randomized controlled trials which evaluated effect of exercise training versus control in postmenopausal women. Standardized mean differences (SMD), weighted mean differences (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated using random effects model.

RESULTS

One hundred and one studies involving 5,697 postmenopausal women were included in the meta-analysis. Results indicated that exercise training effectively increased muscle mass/ volume, muscle and fiber cross-sectional area and fat-free mass, and decreased fat mass, body fat percentage, waist circumference and visceral fat. Furthermore, subgroup analyses results revealed that aerobic and combined training had greater beneficial effects on fat mass outcomes, whereas resistance and combined training had greater beneficial effects on muscle mass outcomes.

DISCUSSION

Overall, our results revealed that exercise training is effective for improving body composition in postmenopausal women. To be specific, aerobic training is effective on fat loss, whereas resistance training is effective on muscle gain. However, combination of aerobic and resistance trainings may be considered a viable strategy to improve body composition in postmenopausal women.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION

https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42021283425.

Address: Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran.; Department of Exercise Physiology and Corrective Exercises, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.; Department of Exercise Physiology, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Guilan, Iran.; Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, United States.; Department of Exercise Physiology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.; Institute of Human Movement and Sports Engineering, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China.

DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1183765

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MeSH Terms: Humans, Female, Postmenopause, Body Composition, Exercise, Intra-Abdominal Fat, Muscles