Meta-Analysis of Exercise Effects on Inflammation in Overweight Postmenopausal Women

A meta-analysis of 30 randomized controlled trials (N = 2,124) investigating the dose-response effects of exercise on inflammatory biomarkers in overweight and obese postmenopausal women. The study, authored by Gang Huang and last updated in March 2026, systematically searched five databases and used meta-regression to analyze relationships between exercise parameters and biomarkers like CRP and TNF-α. Results indicate structured exercise significantly reduces TNF-α and CRP, with a trend suggesting higher intensity is more effective.

Use Cases

• Conducting a secondary meta-analysis based on the aggregated results from 30 RCTs.
• Modeling dose-response relationships between exercise intensity (%HRmax) and inflammatory biomarkers like TNF-α.
• Investigating the stability of effect size estimates for CRP and TNF-α using sensitivity analysis methodologies.
• Developing evidence-based exercise prescription guidelines for postmenopausal obesity management.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on 30 randomized controlled trials with a total sample size of 2,124 participants.
• Used meta-regression to investigate dose-response effects for three specific exercise parameters (volume, duration, intensity).
• Reported sensitivity analyses confirmed stable effect size ranges for key outcomes like CRP (SMD range: -0.41 to -0.28).

Limitations

• The primary data file is a 3.7 MB DOCX document; the underlying tabular meta-analysis data is not directly accessible in a structured format.
• Column-level documentation for any potential supplementary data is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count for any underlying data tables is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for computational analysis.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Gang Huang.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials from five databases.

Time Range

Studies included up to January 2026.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-19 05:17:29.