EFFECT OF EXERCISE TRAINING ON ENDOTHELIAL FUNCTION IN INDIVIDUALS WITH EXCESS WEIGHT: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW WITH META-ANALYSIS OF RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIALS

Individuals with excess weight have impaired endothelial function and increased risk of atherosclerosis. Exercise training is essential for the management of excess weight, but little is known about its effects on endothelial function in this population. The objective of this systematic review was to examine the effects of exercise training on endothelial function in individuals with excess weight. Methods: Our review study included only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving adults (≥18 years of age) with body mass index (BMI) ≥25.0 kg/m2. Our search was conducted in the electronic bases MEDLINE (PubMed), Cochrane, LILACS and EMBASE and in the gray literature. We performed random-effects analyses for effect estimates and used 95% prediction intervals (95% PI) for estimating the uncertainty of the study results. We also assessed the risk of bias using RoB 2 tool and the strength of the body of evidence (GRADE) of the studies. RStudio software was used for statistical analyses.