E-cycling and health benefits: A systematic literature review with meta-analyses

Amund Riiser; Elling Bere; Lars Bo Andersen; Solveig Nordengen

doi:10.3389/fspor.2022.1031004

E-cycling and health benefits: A systematic literature review with meta-analyses

Front Sports Act Living. 2022 Oct 19:4:1031004. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2022.1031004. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Amund Riiser¹, Elling Bere^{2

3

4}, Lars Bo Andersen¹, Solveig Nordengen¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sport, Food and Natural Sciences, Faculty of Education, Arts and Sports, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Sogndal, Norway.
² Department of Sport Science and Physical Education, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
³ Department of Health and Inequalities, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
⁴ Centre for Evaluation of Public Health Measures, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to review and meta-analyze the effect of E-cycling on health outcomes. We included longitudinal experimental and cohort studies investigating the effect of E-cycling on health outcomes. The studies were identified from the seven electronic databases: Web of Science, Scopus, Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Cinahl and SportDiscus and risk of bias was assessed with the revised Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool (RoB2). We performed meta-analysis with random effects models on outcomes presented in more than one study. Our study includes one randomized controlled trial, five quasi experimental trials and two longitudinal cohort studies. The trials included 214 subjects of whom 77 were included in control groups, and the cohort studies included 10,222 respondents at baseline. Maximal oxygen consumption and maximal power output were assessed in four and tree trials including 78 and 57 subjects, respectively. E-cycling increased maximal oxygen consumption and maximal power output with 0.48 SMD (95%CI 0.16-0.80) and 0.62 SMD (95%CI 0.24-0.99). One trial reported a decrease in 2-h post plasma glucoses from 5.53 ± 1.18 to 5.03 ± 0.91 mmol L^-1 and one cohort study reported that obese respondents performed 0.21 times more trips on E-bike than respondents with normal weight. All the included studies had a high risk of bias due to flaws in randomization. However, the outcomes investigated in most studies showed that E-cycling can improve health.

Keywords: E-bicycle; active transportation; fitness; health; meta-analysis.

Publication types

Systematic Review