Background: The risk of developing cardiovascular disease is directly correlated to one's resting blood pressure (BP), age, and biological sex. Resting BP can be reduced using handgrip exercise training, but the impact of age and sex on the effectiveness of training is not well documented.
Methods/design: A systematic search of the literature will be conducted for all experimental studies (including randomized controlled trials and prospective experiments) that report the influence of isometric handgrip exercise training on resting systolic blood pressure. The databases Medline, Embase, Cochrane Reviews, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, Allied and Complementary Medicine (AMED), PubMed, and Scopus will be searched until 1 December 2015. Screening of potential articles, data abstraction, and quality appraisal will be completed in duplicate independently. When necessary, corresponding authors will be contacted in order to facilitate the separation of pooled data into age and sex categories. Methodological quality will be determined using the Quality Assessment Framework developed by the Cochrane Collaboration and the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale as appropriate. Any discrepancies will be resolved by a third author. Findings will be presented in accordance with the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines.
Discussion: This systematic review will determine the overall effectiveness of handgrip exercise training in improving resting blood pressure. A novel, focused assessment will contrast effectiveness of handgrip training based on the age (younger 18-54 years, older >55 years) and the sex (men, women) of study participants. This information is essential to consolidate before moving forward with the development and implementation of handgrip exercise training programmes which are designed to best meet the needs of particular cohorts.
Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42015019792.