Effectiveness of Health Promotion Programs on Blood Pressure in People With Hypertension and Prehypertension in Southeast Asian Populations: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Pataporn Bawornthip, Andrea Driscoll, Damien Khaw and 1 others
PMID 40525605WHAT IT FOUND
In Southeast Asian adults with high blood pressure, diet-based and endurance-based programmes lowered systolic pressure by 8.32 mmHg and 9.45 mmHg, but combined diet and exercise did not show systolic lowering in pooled studies.
Key findings
01Diet-based programmes, including tomato juice and DASH diet plus music therapy, reduced systolic blood pressure by 8.32 mmHg in the pooled analysis of two studies; the contribution of diet alone cannot be separated.
02Endurance-based programmes, including walking, stepping, arm swings, strength exercise, and combined endurance and strength exercise, reduced systolic blood pressure by 9.45 mmHg across six studies, and by 15.95 mmHg in four studies of people with hypertension; the effect of endurance exercise alone cannot be separated.
03Combined diet and exercise did not show a statistically significant reduction in systolic blood pressure, but diastolic blood pressure fell by 1.89 mmHg.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review included people with both hypertension and prehypertension, which may have made it harder to detect clinically important blood pressure changes. Blood pressure was measured immediately after the programmes, so the review does not show whether effects last or reduce heart attacks, strokes, or death. Several categories had high heterogeneity or small studies, and some standard deviations were imputed because trial reports did not provide them. Some positive categories mixed more than one component, such as diet plus music therapy or endurance plus strength exercise, so the contribution of a single component cannot be isolated. Only English-language trials were included, which may limit how well the results apply to other Southeast Asian populations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as showing that any health promotion programme will lower blood pressure. Several pooled analyses did not show statistically significant reductions, including combined diet and exercise for systolic blood pressure and moderate-intensity exercise, and some positive categories included more than one component, such as diet plus music therapy or endurance plus strength exercise.