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Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Sep 26;17(19):7049.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17197049.

Exercise and Quality of Life in Women with Menopausal Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Thi Mai Nguyen  1 , Thi Thanh Toan Do  2 , Tho Nhi Tran  2 , Jin Hee Kim  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Exercise and Quality of Life in Women with Menopausal Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Thi Mai Nguyen et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Menopausal symptoms are associated with deterioration in physical, mental, and sexual health, lowering women's quality of life (QoL). Our study objective is to examine the effect of exercise on QoL in women with menopausal symptoms. After initially identifying 1306 studies published on PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Cochrane Library before June 2020, two researchers independently selected nine randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in which any type of exercise was compared with no active treatment. We assessed the risk of bias in the included studies using the Cochrane risk-of-bias 2.0 tool for RCTs and computed the converged standardized mean difference with a 95% confidence interval. We found evidences for the positive effects of exercise on physical and psychological QoL scores in women with menopausal symptoms. However, there was no evidence for the effects of exercise on general, social, and menopause-specific QoL scores. The most common interventions for women with menopausal and urinary symptoms were yoga and pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT), respectively. In our meta-analyses, while yoga significantly improved physical QoL, its effects on general, psychological, sexual, and vasomotor symptoms QoL scores as well as the effect of PFMT on general QoL were not significant. Our findings suggest that well-designed studies are needed to confirm the effect of exercise on QoL in women with menopausal symptoms.

Keywords: exercise; menopausal symptoms; meta-analysis; quality of life.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the study selection process.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Meta-analyses of the effects of exercise on general QoL domains. (A) Forest plot of six datasets on general QoL. (B) Forest plot of five datasets on the physical component of QoL. (C) Forest plot of seven datasets on the psychological component of QoL. (D) Forest plot of two datasets on the social component of QoL.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Meta-analyses of the effects of exercise on menopause-specific QoL domains. (A) Forest plot of six datasets on vasomotor symptoms. (B) Forest plot of five datasets on sexual symptoms. (C) Forest plot of two datasets on urinary symptoms. (D) Forest plot of three datasets on somatic symptoms. (E) Forest plot of three datasets on total symptoms.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Funnel plots in the meta-analyses of the effects of exercise on nine quality of life (QoL) domains. (A) General. (B) Physical. (C) Psychological. (D) Social. (E) Vasomotor symptoms. (F) Sexual symptoms. (G) Urinary symptoms. (H) Somatic symptoms. (I) Total symptoms.
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