EXERCISE AND BLOOD PRESSURE IN CHILDREN: A META-ANALYSIS

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DESCRIPTION: (Adapted from the Investigator's Abstract) Heart disease and stroke are the first and third leading causes of death in the United States, costing an estimated $259 billion in direct and indirect costs. Approximately 50 million Americans suffer from hypertension, a condition associated with increased risk for stroke, heart attack, and kidney failure. It is well established that blood pressure levels during childhood and adolescence track into adulthood. While pharmacologic intervention can help to control elevated blood pressure in children and adolescents, a debate continues over the efficacy of pharmacologic intervention because of deleterious side effects. As a result, there has been an increased interest in exercise as a nonpharmacologic approach for maintaining adequate blood pressure levels in children and adolescents. Recent reviews of literature have synthesized research using the "traditional" approach (chronologically arranging and describing the studies, perhaps by subtopic) which may result in subjective, nonreplicable conclusions. Consequently, the overall magnitude and direction of effect, as well as the relationships among such variables as subject characteristics, experimental design quality, training program characteristics, and how they contribute to changes in resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure are not clear. In this proposed project, the meta-analytic approach will be used to synthesize research on the overall magnitude of effect as well as the relationships among variables associated with exercise intervention and resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure in children and adolescents. Meta-analysis is a method of pooling the results of separate studies. It is a quantitative approach for increasing statistical power of primary end points and subgroups, resolving uncertainty when studies disagree, improving estimates of effect sizes, and answering questions not posed at the start of individual trials. To date, no study has quantitatively synthesized the existing literature regarding the role of exercise as a nonpharmacologic intervention in reducing or controlling resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels among children and adolescents. Thus, the purpose of this study is to use the meta-analytic approach to examine the effects of exercise on resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure in children and adolescents. The investigators state that the results of this project will provide clarification regarding the role of exercise in reducing resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure in children and adolescents.