Table 8.

GRADE quality of evidence of included studies and relevant outcomes

Certainty assessment							Patients (n)		Effect		Certainty	Importance
Studies (n)	Study design	Risk of bias	Inconsistency	Indirectness	Imprecision	Other considerations	Recreational football	Other exercise and control	Relative (95% CI)	Absolute (95% CI)
Systolic blood pressure OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 110 to 151)
17	Randomised trials	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Publication bias strongly suspected*	457	453	–	MD 4.4 mm Hg lower (7.6 lower to 1.1 lower)	⨁⨁⨁◯ MODERATE
Diastolic blood pressure OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 58 to 97)
17	Randomised trials	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Publication bias strongly suspected*	294	484	–	MD 3.2 mm Hg lower (5.3 lower to 1.1 lower)	⨁⨁⨁◯ MODERATE
Resting heart rate OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from: 51 to 80)
15	Randomised trials	Not serious	Serious†	Not serious	Not serious	Publication bias strongly suspected*	245	330	–	MD 5.7 bpm lower (8.3 lower to 3.1 lower)	⨁⨁◯◯ LOW	CRITICAL
Body mass index OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 22.5 to 35)
19	Randomised trials	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	None	463	421	–	MD 0.3 kg/m2 lower (0.6 lower to 0.1 lower)	⨁⨁⨁⨁ HIGH
Body mass OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 65 to 100)
19	Randomised trials	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	None	557	502	–	MD 2.1 kg lower (5.4 lower to 0.8 lower)	⨁⨁⨁⨁ HIGH
Lean body mass OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 38 to 67)
19	Randomised trials	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	None	573	521	–	0.4 kg higher (0.1 higher to 0.8 higher)	⨁⨁⨁⨁ HIGH
Fat mass OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 19 to 38)
19	Randomised trials	Not serious	Serious†	Not serious	Not serious	Publication bias strongly suspected*	576	522	–	MD 1.2 kg lower (1.7 lower to 0.6 lower)	⨁⨁◯◯ LOW	CRITICAL
Muscular fitness OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 11.5 to 49.4)
10	Randomised trials	Not serious	Very serious†	Not serious	Not serious	Publication bias strongly suspected*	170	227	–	MD 2.5 cm higher (0.9 higher to 4.1 higher)	⨁◯◯◯ VERY LOW
Low-density lipoproteins OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 2.3 to 3.7)
10	Randomised trials	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	None	273	214	–	MD 0.2 mmol/l lower (0.4 lower to 0.1 lower)	⨁⨁⨁⨁ HIGH
Total cholesterol OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 3.2 to 5.9)
9	Randomised trials	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	None	521	203	–	MD 0.1 mmol/l lower (0.3 lower to 0.1 higher)	⨁⨁⨁⨁ HIGH
Triglycerides OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 0.7 to 3.7)
8	Randomised trials	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	None	227	183	–	MD 0.1 mmol/l lower (0.2 lower to 0)	⨁⨁⨁⨁ HIGH
Fasting glucose OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 4.8 to 8.8)
9	Randomised trials	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	None	245	193	–	MD 0.1 mmol/l lower (0.4 lower to 0.3 higher)	⨁⨁⨁⨁ HIGH
Glucose tolerance OVERALL (follow-up: range 12–54 weeks; scale from 24 to 69)
5	Randomised trials	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	Not serious	None	116	78	–	MD 0.6 mmol/l higher (0.2 lower to 1.1 higher)	⨁⨁⨁⨁ HIGH

*Significant result (P<0.10) of Egger’s test for funnel plot asymmetry.

†Assumption of large heterogeneity.

GRADE, Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations; MD, mean difference.