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 3 The effects of handball on health outcomes: results of 12 meta-analyses

Health outcome	n*	d^†	95% CI^‡	p^§	I² (%)^∥	τ^2¶	Q**	p^††	95% PI^‡‡
Body mass (kg)	117 (3)	–0.34	–1.05, 0.37	0.350	0.0	0.00	0.69	0.707	–1.05, 0.37
Body fat mass (kg)	76 (3)	–1.11	–2.20, –0.03	0.045	8.5	0.09	1.78	0.412	–2.35, 0.12
Body fat percentage	195 (5)	–0.85	–1.38, –0.33	0.001	27.3	0.10	4.98	0.289	–1.66, –0.04
Lean body mass (kg)	147 (3)	0.06	–0.44, 0.55	0.820	0.8	0.00	1.27	0.531	–0.45, 0.56
Total cholesterol (mmol/L)	167 (5)	0.05	–0.10, 0.21	0.478	0.0	0.00	2.36	0.670	–0.10, 0.21
HDL cholesterol (mmol/L)	167 (5)	0.07	–0.02, 0.16	0.143	65.2	0.01	13.24	0.010	–0.12, 0.25
LDL cholesterol (mmol/L)	167 (5)	–0.03	–0.16, 0.10	0.622	0.0	0.00	0.98	0.913	–0.16, 0.10
Triglycerides (mmol/L)	167 (5)	–0.12	–0.26, 0.03	0.107	22.4	0.01	4.73	0.316	–0.33, 0.09
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)	96 (4)	1.89	–0.89, 4.66	0.183	0.0	0.00	2.08	0.557	–0.89, 4.66
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)	96 (4)	–0.44	–3.54, 2.66	0.782	35.6	3.55	4.51	0.211	–5.26, 4.39
Resting heart rate (bpm)	163 (5)	–3.56	–7.84, 0.72	0.103	79.2	18.53	15.05	0.005	–13.02, 5.90
VO_2max (ml/kg/min)	191 (6)	2.26	1.03, 3.50	< 0.001	69.8	1.55	13.99	0.016	–0.47, 5.00

^*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 handball 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