Physical activity for the prevention and treatment of major chronic disease: an overview of systematic reviews
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: The evidence that higher levels of physical activity and/or lower levels of physical inactivity are associated with beneficial health-related outcomes stems mainly from observational studies. Findings from these studies often differ from randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews currently demonstrate mixed results, due partly to heterogeneity in physical activity interventions, methodologies used and populations studied. As a result, translation into clinical practice has been difficult. It is therefore essential that an overview is carried out to compare and contrast systematic reviews, and to identify those physical activity interventions that are the most effective in preventing and/or treating major chronic disease. This protocol has been registered on PROSPERO 2013: CRD42013003523. METHODS: We will carry out an overview of Cochrane systematic reviews. We will search the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials that have a primary focus on disease-related outcomes. We will restrict reviews to those in selected major chronic diseases. Two authors will independently screen search outputs, select studies, extract data and assess the quality of included reviews using the assessment of multiple systematic reviews tool; all discrepancies will be resolved by discussing and reaching a consensus, or by arbitration with a third author. The data extraction form will summarise key information from each review, including details of the population(s) (for example, disease condition), the context (for example, prevention, treatment or management), the participants, the intervention(s), the comparison(s) and the outcomes. The primary outcomes of interest are the prevention of chronic disease and/or improved outcomes, in the treatment or management of chronic disease. These outcomes will be summarised and presented for individual chronic diseases (for example, any change in blood pressure in hypertension or glucose control in diabetes). Secondary outcomes of interest are to describe the structure and delivery of physical activity interventions across chronic disease conditions and adverse events associated with physical activity. DISCUSSION: We anticipate that our results could inform researchers, guideline groups and policymakers of the most efficacious physical activity interventions in preventing and/or managing major chronic disease.
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Physical exercise has beneficial effects on metabolic diseases.
“Physical exercise is an important non-pharmacological treatment option not only as a preventive agent, but also in the treatment of numerous metabolic diseases, such as type II diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease (Nunan et al., 2013; Mahtani et al., 2015).”
From Physical Exercise-Induced Myokines and Muscle-Adipose Tissue Crosstalk: A Review of Current Knowledge and the Implications for Health and Metabolic Diseases (2018) · cites this paper as Nunan et al., 2013
The Background (page unavailable) links greater physical activity with beneficial health outcomes and discusses its possible role in preventing and managing chronic disease. But it says systematic reviews show mixed results, including no advantage for exercise-only interventions in preventing type 2 diabetes. The cited paper therefore supports a possible benefit, not the unqualified claim that exercise is an effective preventive and treatment option across the named diseases. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredPhysical exercise is an important non-pharmacological treatment option for numerous metabolic diseases, such as type II diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.
“Physical exercise is an important non-pharmacological treatment option not only as a preventive agent, but also in the treatment of numerous metabolic diseases, such as type II diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease (Nunan et al., 2013; Mahtani et al., 2015).”
From Physical Exercise-Induced Myokines and Muscle-Adipose Tissue Crosstalk: A Review of Current Knowledge and the Implications for Health and Metabolic Diseases (2018) · cites this paper as Nunan et al., 2013
The Methods (Types of participants and Types of outcomes; page unavailable) include diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease among conditions for which exercise interventions and outcomes will be examined. But this is a review protocol, not a finding that exercise is an effective treatment for all three. The Background says systematic reviews show mixed results and reports that exercise-only interventions were no better than usual care or diet alone for preventing type 2 diabetes. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- World Health Organisation Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health 2010 Geneva 60 26180873
- Nunan D Mahtani KR Perera R Roberts N Heneghan C Physical activity for the prevention and treatment of major chronic disease: an overview of systematic reviews PROSPERO 2013:CRD42013003523 Available from http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/NIHR_PROSPERO PMC3710239 23837523
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The association between social support and physical activity in older adults: a systematic review
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“Physical exercise is an important non-pharmacological treatment option not only as a preventive agent, but also in the treatment of numerous metabolic diseases, such as type II diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease (Nunan et al., 2013; Mahtani et al., 2015).”
BackgroundCheng, K. Y.-K., Bao, Z., Long, Y., Liu, C., Huang, T., Cui, C., Chow, S. K.-H., Wong, R. M. Y., & Cheung, W.-H. (2023) · Subcellular Biochemistry · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-26576-1_6 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
- Authors
- Nunan, D., Mahtani, K. R., Roberts, N., & Heneghan, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Nunan, David
- Venue
- Systematic Reviews
- Published
- 2013-07-10
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 56-56
- ISSN
- 2046-4053 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3710239
- OpenAlex
- W2162266600
- Cited by
- 109
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 0.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Systematic Reviews (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute for Health and Care Research (CL-2011-13-006)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Keywords
- physical activity interventions, chronic disease prevention, chronic disease treatment, physical inactivity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, blood pressure, glycemic control, intervention delivery
- MeSH terms
- Cardiovascular Diseases, Chronic Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, Humans, Research Design, Review Literature as Topic, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Exercise
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