Table 3.

Effect of isometric handgrip exercise on blood pressure response according to participants’ characteristics.

Subgroup		N	Mean difference	Standard error	Variance	95% CI	Z-value	p*	$I^2$	$p^{\mathrm{\yen }}$
SBP (mmHg)
Sex
	Men	59	+34.5	2.1	4.5	30.3–38.6	16.2	0.0	94.6	0.0
	Women	14	+26.1	3.9	15.2	18.4–33.7	6.7	0.0	99.6	0.0
Age
	Young	62	+31.3	2.1	4.5	27.2–35.5	14.7	0.0	95.9	0.0
	Middle-aged/elderly	37	+41.3	2.1	4.4	37.1–45.4	19.6	0.0	95.0	0.0
BP level classification
	Non-hypertensive	95	+30.7	2.1	4.3	26.7–34.8	14.9	0.0	99.3	0.0
	Hypertensive	13	+39.6	2.2	4.7	35.3–43.8	18.2	0.0	71.8	0.0
DBP (mmHg)
Sex
	Men	50	+26.6	3.1	9.5	20.5–32.6	8.6	0.0	98.4	0.0
	Women	14	+20.4	2.9	8.4	14.7–26.0	7.0	0.0	99.3	0.0
Age
	Young	55	+23.4	1.5	2.3	20.4–26.3	15.4	0.0	94.7	0.0
	Middle-aged/elderly	36	+29.6	2.6	6.6	24.6–34.6	11.5	0.0	98.8	0.0
BP level classification
	Non-hypertensive	80	+22.1	1.0	1.0	20.2–24.1	22.6	0.0	97.9	0.0
	Hypertensive	13	+30.8	8.9	78.4	13.5–48.2	3.5	0.0	99.5	0.0

Note: Analyses performed with the random effects model. N, number of studies and subgroups per study analyzed; Young, studies that included adults with mean age up to 40 years; Middle-aged/elderly, studies that included adults with a mean 40 years; Non-Hypertension, studies that classified participants into normotensives and/or prehypertensive; CI, confidence interval; $I^2$, heterogeneity of studies. *p concerns the main analysis (mean difference).^¥ p concerns the heterogeneity analysis $I^2$).