SynthesisFrontiers in public health2025
Effects of exercise on body fat percentage and cardiorespiratory fitness in sedentary adults: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Frontiers in public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Effect of basketball-based small-sided games and running-based high-intensity interval training on physical fitness in untrained young adults: a randomized controlled study.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Association of Physical Activity Levels with Severe Multimorbidity Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Evidence from CHARLS and a Community Sample.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Aerobic Fitness and Health-Related Phenotypes: A Two-Stage Phenome-Wide Mendelian Randomization Study.Medicine and science in sports and exercise · 2026Article
- The Mediating Role of Adiposity in the Association Between Respiratory Muscle Strength and Exercise Energy Expenditure in Adult Women: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Joint associations between exercising and classical cardiometabolic risk factors with all-cause, premature and cardiovascular mortality: a prospective cohort study among Mexican adults.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Article
- Association between university aerobics course enrollment and changes in health-related physical fitness among college students: a retrospective cohort study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Sedentary behavior is increasingly prevalent worldwide and associated with numerous health concerns including obesity and cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of various exercise interventions on body fat percentage and cardiorespiratory fitness in sedentary adults. Methods: A systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was conducted. Comprehensive searches were performed in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases through December 10, 2024. All retrieved literature was imported into EndNote 21 for duplicate removal, and two reviewers independently screened articles and extracted data. Study quality was assessed using the ROB2 tool. Primary outcomes included body fat percentage (BF%), maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂max), and peak oxygen uptake (VO₂peak). Network meta-analysis used random-effects models with SUCRA ranking and low to moderate heterogeneity (I Results: Fifty-one randomized controlled trials involving 2,201 participants were included. Risk of bias assessment showed 27 studies (52.9%) with low risk, 21 studies (41.2%) with some concerns, and 3 studies (5.9%) with high risk. Funnel plots indicated minimal publication bias. For BF% reduction, aerobic training ranked highest (SUCRA 97.5%), followed by resistance training combined with endurance training (SUCRA:78.2%) and aerobic training combined with strength training (SUCRA:77.4%). For VO₂max, strength training showed superior effectiveness (SUCRA:95.9%). For VO₂peak, aerobic training ranked highest (SUCRA:70.0%). Conclusion: This network meta-analysis demonstrates that aerobic training is most effective for reducing BF%, while strength training shows superior effectiveness for improving VO₂max in sedentary adults. Aerobic training also shows promise for enhancing VO₂peak. These findings provide evidence-based guidance for exercise prescription in sedentary populations, suggesting that different exercise modalities should be selected based on specific health improvement goals. Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=637089), identifier (CRD42025637089).
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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.