Health Benefits of Different Sports: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal and Intervention Studies Including 2.6 Million Adult Participants
Oja, P., Memon, A. R., Titze, S., Jurakic, D., Chen, S.-T., Shrestha, N., Em, S., Matolic, T., Vasankari, T., Heinonen, A., Grgic, J., Koski, P., Kokko, S., Kelly, P., Foster, C., Podnar, H., & Pedisic, Z. (2024). 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, 10, Article 46. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-024-00692-x
Published in
Sports Medicine - OpenAuthors
Date
2024Copyright
© 2024 the Authors
Background
Several reviews have examined the health benefits of participation in specific sports, such as baseball, cricket, cross-country skiing, cycling, downhill skiing, football, golf, judo, rugby, running and swimming. However, new primary studies on the topic have recently been published, and the respective meta-analytic evidence needs to be updated.
Objectives
To systematically review, summarise and appraise evidence on physical health benefits of participation in different recreational sports.
Methods
Searches for journal articles were conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, SpoLit, SPORTDiscus, Sports Medicine & Education Index and Web of Science. We included longitudinal and intervention studies investigating physical health outcomes associated with participation in a given sport among generally healthy adults without disability.
Results
A total of 136 papers from 76 studies conducted among 2.6 million participants were included in the review. Our meta-analyses of available evidence found that: (1) cycling reduces the risk of coronary heart disease by 16% (pooled hazard ratio [HR] = 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.80, 0.89), all-cause mortality by 21% (HR = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.73, 0.84), cancer mortality by 10% (HR = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.85, 0.96) and cardiovascular mortality by 20% (HR = 0.80; 95% CI: 0.74, 0.86); (2) football has favourable effects on body composition, blood lipids, fasting blood glucose, blood pressure, cardiovascular function at rest, cardiorespiratory fitness and bone strength (p < 0.050); (3) handball has favourable effects on body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness (p < 0.050); (4) running reduces the risk of all-cause mortality by 23% (HR = 0.77; 95% CI: 0.70, 0.85), cancer mortality by 20% (HR = 0.80; 95% CI: 0.72, 0.89) and cardiovascular mortality by 27% (HR = 0.73; 95% CI: 0.57, 0.94) and improves body composition, cardiovascular function at rest and cardiorespiratory fitness (p < 0.010); and (5) swimming reduces the risk of all-cause mortality by 24% (HR = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.63, 0.92) and improves body composition and blood lipids (p < 0.010).
Conclusions
A range of physical health benefits are associated with participation in recreational cycling, football, handball, running and swimming. More studies are needed to enable meta-analyses of health benefits of participation in other sports.
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Publisher
Springer NatureISSN Search the Publication Forum
2199-1170Keywords
Publication in research information system
https://converis.jyu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/213346039
Metadata
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- Liikuntatieteiden tiedekunta [3064]
Related funder(s)
European CommissionFunding program(s)
Collaborative Partnerships![](/themes/JYX2/images/funders/eu_logo_thumb.jpg)
The content of the publication reflects only the author’s view. The funder is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.
Additional information about funding
This manuscript was prepared as part of the “Creating Mechanisms for Continuous Implementation of the Sports Club for Health Guidelines in the European Union” project, funded by the Erasmus + Collaborative Partnerships grant (reference number: 613434-EPP-1-2019-1-HR-SPO-SCP).License
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