The effect of ischemic preconditioning on the cardiac autonomic nervous system after exercise: A systematic review and meta-analysis

To systematically assess the impact of ischemic preconditioning intervention on the cardiac autonomic control nerves of athletes during the post-exercise period.Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were searched from Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase, Wipo, CNKI, and Cochrane databases from database creation to December 2023. The quality of included RCTs was assessed using the Cochrane Risk Assessment Tool and systematic assessment was performed using RevMan 5.3.A total of 7 RCTs including 88 subjects were included. The meta-analysis showed that ischemic preconditioning was indeed effectively improving the heart rate short-term recovery (MD = -3.99 , 95%CI:-5.93 to -2.05,p＜0.00001), and long-term recovery post-exercise (MD = -9.73, 95%CI:-12.74 to -6.73，p＜0.00001). There was however was no significant effect on resting state heart rate variability(HRV) or peak heart rate(HR peak) (MD = -0.16, 95%CI:-2.46 to 2.14,p=0.89) during the end of exercise.