ReviewCureus2024
Effects of Exercise Training on Heart Rate Variability in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Review in Cureus, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The impact of long-term exercise intervention on heart rate variability indices: a systematic meta-analysis.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of acute high-altitude exposure on heart rate variability: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Pooled it
- Article
- Role of Exercise in Modulating the Brain-Heart Axis in Cardiovascular Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Neural Mechanisms of Social Homeostasis: Dynamic Range Plasticity.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Review
- Exercise Stress Testing in Clinical Cardiology: A Practical Guide to Performance and Interpretation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Changes in women's subjective health perceptions through online balance ball lessons: a qualitative study.Journal of rural medicine : JRM · 2026Article
- Exercise, vagal regulation, and inflammatory symptom clusters in breast cancer survivors: a structured mini-review and hypothesis-generating framework.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Review
- Is Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation for adults with atrial fibrillation effective? A Cochrane Review summary with commentary.Turkish journal of physical medicine and rehabilitation · 2025Article
- A new approach to interpreting the LF/HF ratio: a study in hypertensive patients.Journal of human hypertension · 2025Article
- Effects of 12 Weeks of Interval Block Resistance Training Versus Circuit Resistance Training on Body Composition, Performance, and Autonomic Recovery in Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Review
- The relationship between resting heart rate variability and sportive performance, sleep and body awareness in soccer players.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Effects of singing on vascular health in older adults with coronary artery disease: a randomized, crossover trial.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Article
- Analysis of frequency-domain heart rate variability using absolute versus normalized values: implications and practical concerns.Frontiers in physiology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the effects of exercise training on heart rate variability (HRV) parameters associated with the autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving healthy adults (aged ≥ 18 years) were included. We searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases to identify relevant studies. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed using the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Sixteen RCTs with a total of 623 participants were selected for the final analysis. The analysis showed that exercise training improved the standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN) (SMD: 0.58 (0.16, 1.00); p = 0.007), the root mean square of successive differences in heart period series (RMSSD) (SMD: 0.84 (0.36, 1.31); p = 0.0005), and the absolute power of high-frequency band (HF) (SMD: 0.89 (0.27, 1.51); p = 0.005) parameters compared to the control group. Analysis of the moderator variables showed that the effect of exercise on HRV indices may be influenced by sex, age, and type of exercise used, specifically in HF band, absolute power of low-frequency band (LF), and LF/HF ratio parameters. Despite the limited number of existing RCTs related to the subject, the results suggest that exercise training enhances HRV parameters associated with vagal-related activity (RMSSD and HF) and both sympathetic and parasympathetic activities (SDNN). This study overcomes the lack of meta-analyses on the effects of exercise training on autonomic modulation among healthy adults and may bridge the gap in understanding the potential physiological underpinnings of the acknowledged positive health benefits of exercise.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.