Table 1.
Characteristics of all the included quantitative and qualitative studies and studied populations (N=12).
| Author, year | Country | Study design (duration) | Sample size, N | Retention rate at follow-up | Age (years) | Menopausal stage | Experience of menopausal symptoms | Eligibility for recruitment | Overall risk of bias |
| Cadmus-Bertram et al [78], 2016 | United States | RCTa (16 weeks) | 51 | 96% (49/51) | Mean 60 (SD 7.1) | Postmenopausal | Not given | Inactive, overweight (mean BMI 29.2, SD 3.5 kg/m2) | Low risk |
| Valle et al [81], 2017 | United States | RCT (6 months) | 35 | 94.3% (33/35) | Mean 53 (SD 9.1) | 80% postmenopausal | Not given | African American, obese (mean BMI 33.9, SD 5.9 kg/m2); diagnosed with breast cancer in the last 10 years | Low risk |
| Lynch et al [83], 2019 | Australia | RCT (12 weeks) | 83 | 96% (80/83) | Mean 61.6 (SD 76.4) | Postmenopausal | Not given | Inactive, overweight (mean BMI 29, SD 6.0 kg/m2); diagnosed with breast cancer and had completed treatment | Low risk |
| Kashfi et al [76], 2021 | Iran | RCT (1 month) | 54 | Not reported | Mean 53.9 (SD 4.03) | Menopausal and postmenopausal | Not given | Aged between 45 and 60 years and at least 1 year after the last menstruation; no hormone therapy over the past 6 months | Moderate to high risk |
| Butryn et al [79], 2016 | United States | Pre-post (6 months) | 36 | 78% (28/36) | Mean 54 (SD 7.18) | Not identified | Not given | Inactive, aged between 40 and 65 years | Moderate to high risk |
| Sengupta et al [84], 2020 | United States | Pre-post (12 weeks) | 10 | 80% (8/10) | Mean 64 (SD 6.0) | Not identified | Not given | Aged ≥50 years, recruited from cardiology clinics | Moderate to high risk |
| Joseph et al [56], 2021 | United States | Pre-post (4 months) | 20 | 80% (16/20) | Mean 56.2 (SD 4.3) | Not identified | Not given | African American, aged 50 to 65 years, inactive (≤60 minutes per week of MVPAb), and BMI of 40.0 (SD 8.6) kg/m2 | Moderate to high risk |
| Lee et al [75], 2015c | South Korea | Qualitative; semistructured interviews | 9 | N/Ad | Range 45 to 60 | Perimenopausal | Experiencing menopause symptoms | Aged between 45 and 60 years, experiencing or having experienced menopausal symptoms within the last 5 years | Low risk |
| Nguyen et al [80], 2017 | Australia | Qualitative; focus group | 14 | N/A | Mean 58.6 | Postmenopausal | Not given | Active and inactive; diagnosed with breast cancer | Low risk |
| Senette et al [82], 2018c | Italy | Qualitative; participatory design focus group | 26 | N/A | Range 45 to 60 | Perimenopausal | Not given | Aged between 45 and 60 years, 18.5<BMI<30, and absence of chronic diseases | Moderate to high risk |
| Backonja et al [77], 2021c | United States | Qualitative; participatory design focus group | 8 | N/A | Range 40 to 64 | Perimenopausal and early postmenopausal | Experiencing menopause symptoms | Aged 40 to 64 years | Moderate to high risk |
| Kim et al [85], 2020 | South Korea | Mixed methods; focus group and validity pilot test | Focus group: 16; pilot study: 12 | N/A | Range 40 to 65 | Not given | Not given | Korean-Chinese; aged 40 to 65 years; full-time workers for the last 6 months | Moderate to high risk |
aRCT: randomized controlled trial.
bMVPA: moderate to vigorous physical activity.
cPreclinical studies of IT research (menopause informatics).
dN/A: not applicable.