The effects of hydrogymnastics on functional autonomy in elderly women: a meta-analysis

Abstract Aim: To Verify the effects of hydrogymnastics on functional autonomy in elderly women. Method: In November 2018, a systematic review of the literature was performed in the databases MEDLINE, SciELO, LILACS, PEDro, Cochrane, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, SCOPUS e CINAHL. Two independent researchers selected randomized clinical trials, which evaluated the effects of hydrogymnastics over healthy elderly women performance on functional tests performance on functional tests. From each study they selected the number of participants in both experimental and control groups (EG and CG), age, intervention protocol, mean and standard deviation before and after the intervention for the following variables: legs and biceps muscular strength, posterior muscle chain extensibility, and agility - all of which compose the functional autonomy on Rikli and Jones test. We analyzed the methodological quality and the risk of bias through the Jadad Scale and the Cochrane tool respectively. We performed the data analysis through the random effects model and the mean difference between CG and EG. The analysis of the publication bias was done with Egger Test. Results: We found a total of 887 studies in the aforementioned databases, and five randomized clinical trials were included in the present meta-analysis. In spite of the evidence level is very low, the hydrogymnastics promoted an increase in agility and leg muscle strength in elderly women.