Effects of physical activity on heart rate variability in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Author: Hao Chen1, Jing Xu1, Hao Xie2, Yufen Huang3, Xin Shen3, Fei Xu1
Affiliation:
1 School of Physical Education, Hangzhou Normal University. 311121 Hangzhou China. feixu@hznu.edu.cn.
2 Department of Physical Education, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics. Hangzhou China.
3 The Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine. Hangzhou China.
Conference/Journal: Cien Saude Colet
Date published: 2022 May 1
Other: Volume ID: 27 , Issue ID: 5 , Pages: 1827-1842 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1590/1413-81232022275.10402021. , Word Count: 181


The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of physical activity (PA) on heart rate variability (HRV) in children and adolescents. We conducted a research of Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Springer-Link and EBSCO-host. The revised Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used in an investigative analysis to assess bias risk. A total of 21 studies were included. Overall, medium-sized associations were found between PA and low frequency and high frequency in children and adolescents. High PA level had significantly higher standard deviation of RR intervals and root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent RR intervals in children and adolescents. The effects of PA on HRV were consistent in children and adolescents. Our systematic review and meta-analysis revealed medium-sized between PA and HRV in children and adolescents. Promoting children's and adolescents' participation in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) will increase parasympathetic nerve activity and decreased sympathetic nerve activity. Our findings support motivating children and adolescents to engage in more MVPA in their daily lives to improve autonomic nervous system function and promote cardiovascular safety.


PMID: 35544812 DOI: 10.1590/1413-81232022275.10402021

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