The Effect of Physical Activity on Lowering Blood Pressure among Adults with Prehypertension: A Meta-analysis of RCT Studies

Background: Different combinations of physical activity interventions (PAI) have been studied, and varying outcomes have been found in lowering BP among prehypertensive adults worldwide. Objectives: A systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the pooled effects of multiple PAI on reducing BP among prehypertensive. Data Sources: A systematic search was performed on EBSCO -HOST, ERIC, Cochrane databases, PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar through January 1, 2008, to August 10, 2024. Search terms were physical activity, lowering blood pressure, prehypertension, and randomized controlled trials. Random effects models estimated the PAI’s effect on BP across selected sixteen RCT studies using heterogeneity, publication bias (funnel plot), Egger’s test, and a Relative Risk, 95% CI, and p-value < 0.05. Conclusions: Random-effects meta-regression coefficient indicated all the RCT studies had a risk-free bias. Homogeneity showed (I 2 SBP=0% and Ι2 DBP=0%), suggesting that 0% of the PAI effect variability was due to the actual study similarity and 100% is due to chance. The pooled estimate showed a significant lowering SBP/DBP in favor of PAI, (RRSBP=0.99; 95% CI (0.99-1.00),p=0.02 and RRDBP=0.99; 95% CI (0.98- 1.00),p=0.04) respectively. Implications for Practice: The finding emphasized the magnitude of PAI that generates a 1% reduction of SBP/DBP among prehypertensive adults. Practitioners may accentuate the benefits of PAI including other lifestyle modification on lowering SBP/DBP among adults. Policy makers may use this finding to design public policy and program interventions to prevent the surge of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.