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

Oja, Pekka; Memon, Aamir Raoof; Titze, Sylvia; Jurakic, Danijel; Chen, Si-Tong; Shrestha, Nipun; Em, Sowannry; Matolic, Tena; Vasankari, Tommi; Heinonen, Ari; Grgic, Jozo; Koski, Pasi; Kokko, Sami; Kelly, Paul; Foster, Charlie; Podnar, Hrvoje; Pedisic, Zeljko

doi:10.1186/s40798-024-00692-x

Sports Medicine - Open

Table 2 The effects of football on health outcomes: results of 24 meta-analyses

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

Health outcome	n*	d^†	95% CI^‡	p^§	I² (%)^∥	τ^2¶	Q**	p^††	95% PI^‡‡
Body mass (kg)	298 (11^§§)	–3.64	–5.74, –1.54	< 0.001	93.9	11.20	175.90	< 0.001	–10.53, 3.25
Body mass index (kg/m²)	236 (8^§§)	–0.83	–1.53, –0.14	0.018	93.0	0.85	131.98	< 0.001	–2.77, 1.10
Body fat mass (kg)	195 (6)	–2.15	–3.43, –0.87	< 0.001	84.2	1.88	47.21	< 0.001	–5.13, 0.83
Body fat percentage	281 (10^§§)	–1.98	–2.68, –1.28	< 0.001	80.6	0.88	81.14	< 0.001	–3.94, –0.01
Lean body mass (kg)	164 (6)	–0.10	–1.58, 1.38	0.891	82.4	2.77	21.32	< 0.001	–3.69, 3.48
Lean mass of legs (kg)	103 (3)	0.09	–0.43, 0.62	0.728	37.3	0.09	3.20	0.201	–0.69, 0.88
Total cholesterol (mmol/L)	232 (8^§§)	–0.15	–0.29, –0.01	0.031	12.7	0.01	6.40	0.494	–0.35, 0.04
HDL cholesterol (mmol/L)	263 (9^§§)	0.07	–0.02, 0.17	0.129	81.8	0.02	39.66	< 0.001	–0.20, 0.34
LDL cholesterol (mmol/L)	232 (8^§§)	–0.15	–0.28, –0.02	0.025	14.5	0.01	7.43	0.385	–0.35, 0.04
Triglycerides (mmol/L)	200 (7^§§)	–0.16	–0.31, 0.00	0.056	45.1	0.02	10.54	0.104	–0.46, 0.15
Fasting blood glucose (mmol/L)	114 (6^§§)	–0.22	–0.41, –0.03	0.025	55.2	0.03	10.50	0.062	–0.59, 0.15
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)	303 (10^§§)	–4.44	–6.78, –2.09	< 0.001	63.1	8.64	23.53	0.005	–10.66, 1.79
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)	303 (10^§§)	–2.59	–4.28, –0.91	0.003	57.9	3.83	20.82	0.013	–6.78, 1.59
Mean arterial pressure (mmHg)	79 (3)	–2.93	–5.32, –0.54	0.016	0.0	0.00	0.70	0.705	–5.32, –0.54
Resting heart rate (bpm)	154 (8^§§)	–5.41	–7.57, –3.26	< 0.001	49.6	4.34	12.59	0.083	–10.03, –0.80
Maximal heart rate (bpm)	87 (3)	2.42	–2.45, 7.29	0.330	59.6	10.60	4.98	0.083	–5.60, 10.45
VO_2max (ml/kg/min)	222 (7)	4.00	1.76, 6.24	< 0.001	91.8	7.89	38.04	< 0.001	–1.95, 9.94
VO_2max (L/min)	97 (3)	0.38	0.18, 0.59	< 0.001	0.0	0.00	1.54	0.463	0.18, 0.59
Peak ventilation (L/min)	96 (4)	15.43	8.79, 22.07	< 0.001	0.0	0.00	0.92	0.822	8.79, 22.07
Bone mineral density – total body (g/cm²)	192 (5)	0.01	–0.01, 0.03	0.210	71.6	0.00	12.19	0.016	–0.02, 0.04
Bone mineral content – total body (g)	194 (5)	30.82	5.71, 55.93	0.016	0.0	0.00	0.87	0.929	5.71, 55.93
Bone mineral content – legs (g)	103 (3)	26.33	13.54, 39.12	< 0.001	1.7	3.89	1.75	0.417	12.97, 39.69
Osteocalcin (μg/L)	154 (4)	9.61	5.40, 13.83	< 0.001	40.9	7.54	5.31	0.150	2.78, 16.45
Countermovement jump^∥∥ (cm)	54 (3)	2.11	–0.08, 4.29	0.059	84.6	3.13	14.57	< 0.001	–1.99, 6.21

^*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 football 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
^§§Number of intervention groups presented instead of number of studies, where number of studies = number of intervention groups − 1
∥∥Performed with hands on hips (i.e. without arm swing)

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