Health Benefits of Different Sports: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal and Intervention Studies Including 2.6 Million Adult Participants

Sports Medicine - Open

Table 1 The effects of cycling on health outcomes: results of four meta-analyses

Health outcome	n*	d^†	95% CI^‡	p^§	I² (%)^∥	τ^2¶	Q**	p^††	95% PI^‡‡
Body mass (kg)	180 (4)	−1.15	–3.92, 1.62	0.415	85.5	6.73	19.36	< 0.001	–6.94, 4.64
Body mass index (kg/m²)	141 (3)	0.15	–0.18, 0.47	0.372	0.0	0.00	1.36	0.506	–0.18, 0.47
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)	161 (3)	–1.35	–5.02, 2.32	0.471	0.0	0.00	0.84	0.657	–5.02, 2.32
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)	161 (3)	–0.38	–3.55, 2.80	0.817	0.0	0.00	0.53	0.765	–3.55, 2.80

^*Pooled sample size (number of studies)
^†Pooled mean difference between the pre-post effects found in the intervention and control groups. A positive value indicates a larger increase in the average score in a given test as a result of cycling participation, compared with controls
^‡95% confidence interval for d
^§p-value for d
∥I² measure of heterogeneity between studies expressed as percentage
^¶Tau-squared measure of heterogeneity between studies
^**Cochran’s Q
^††p-value from the Cochran’s Q test of heterogeneity between studies
^‡‡95% prediction interval for d