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January 18, 2026International Journal of Physical Activity and Health0 citations

A293: Effects of Aquatic Exercise on Cardiovascular Health in the Elderly

JWJinlin WuCapital University of Physical Education and Sports QSQing SongCentral South University

Key Points

To evaluate the effects of regular aquatic exercise on cardiovascular health in the elderly population through a systematic review.
Systematic search of databases including PubMed and Web of Science for randomized controlled trials.
Inclusion of 18 RCTs conducted from January 2000 to December 2023.
Use of Cochrane risk of bias tool for quality assessment and Revman 5.4.1 for data analysis.
Regular aquatic exercise significantly reduced systolic blood pressure by an average of 4.17 mmHg.
Regular aquatic exercise significantly reduced diastolic blood pressure by an average of 3.39 mmHg.
Heart rate at rest decreased by an average of 4.33 bpm due to aquatic exercise.
Improvements in maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) by an average of 1.93 ml/kg/min and peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) by 3.40 ml/kg/min were noted.

Abstract

According to the Report on Cardiovascular Health and Diseases in China 2023， the number of patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) in China has reached 330 million. CVD is the disease with the highest mortality rate, and the elderly population has the greatest risk. In the context of strategies of the Healthy China initiative and A Leading Sporting Nation, it is urgent to use exercise intervention to prevent and treat major chronic diseases such as CVD under the concept of "exercise is good medicine, promote the deep integration of national fitness and national health. Aquatic exercise is a novel exercise intervention therapy, which refers to the use of physical properties such as buoyancy, pressure, resistance, and temperature of water to promote physical health. Purpose: To systematically evaluate the effect of regular aquatic exercise on the cardiovascular health of the elderly by using eta-analysis. Method: Two researchers searched PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, EBSCO, CNKI, and CBM from January 2000 to December 2023 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the effects of regular aquatic exercise on cardiovascular health in the elderly in strict accordance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria independently. The Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool was used to evaluate the quality of the literature, and Revman 5.4.1 software was used for analysis. A total of 18 RCTs were included, with a total of 749 elderly subjects. The results showed that regular aquatic exercise could significantly improve the systolic blood pressure (SBP) WMD=-4.17, 95%CI (-8.09, -0.26), P=0.04, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) WMD=-3.39, 95%CI (-6.35, -0.43), P=0.02, resting heart rate (HRrest) WMD= -4.33, 95%CI (-6.97, -1.70), P=0.001, maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) [WMD=1.93, 95%CI (1.58, 2.29), P 0.05). Regular aquatic exercise can significantly reduce SBP, DBP, and HRrest of the elderly, improve VO2max and VO2peak. More high-quality studies are needed to further demonstrate the impact of regular aquatic exercise on important indicators affecting cardiovascular health, such as blood lipids and blood glucose in the elderly.

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