Menthol Administration Effects on Endurance Performance in Heat: A Network Meta-Analysis

Yongliang Zhu's supplementary document contains the results of a network meta-analysis comparing three menthol administration routes on exercise performance in hot environments. The analysis includes 15 randomized controlled trials sourced from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and CNKI, with a search deadline of March 2, 2026. The document reports outcome-specific trends for ingestion, mouth rinsing, and topical application on endurance performance and physiological responses.

Use Cases

• Comparing the relative efficacy of different menthol administration routes based on the network meta-analysis results.
• Investigating task-oriented personalized supplementation strategies for endurance versus power output events based on SUCRA rankings.
• Assessing the safety implications of menthol use in the heat based on its potential to mask thermal perception without alleviating physiological strain.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on 15 randomized controlled trials, providing a structured evidence base.
• Systematic review methodology includes a risk of bias assessment using the Cochrane RoB 2.0 tool.
• Results include specific Surface under the Cumulative Ranking Curve (SUCRA) values for different administration routes.

Limitations

• The dataset is a 2.1 MB DOCX file containing analysis results, not the underlying raw trial data.
• Column-level documentation for any potential tabular data within the document is absent.
• Most pairwise comparisons in the analysis did not reach statistical significance, limiting definitive conclusions.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Systematic review and network meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials.

Time Range

Search deadline was March 2, 2026; included trials' publication dates are unspecified.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-18 05:41:21.