A systematic mapping review of studies reporting the effects of spaceflight on cardiovascular outcomes

This systematic review aimed to characterize the landscape of cardiovascular research in the context of spaceflight and its Earth-based analogs. In collaboration with subject matter experts from the Ames Life Science Data Archive Analysis Working Group, we developed targeted search terms for spaceflight-related exposures and specific cardiovascular outcomes. A team of librarians translated these terms into structured search strategies across Ovid Medline, Embase, and CINAHL, yielding 18,837 records after deduplication. Screening was completed in collaboration with citizen scientists from the Space Open Life Sciences Team for International Collaborative Exploration (SOLSTICE). Title and abstract screening identified 3512 relevant articles. Articles were labelled based on population (human, rodent, primate, other), exposure type (actual spaceflight, simulated microgravity, other), and primary outcome focus (cardiovascular, hematopoietic, or other). Humans comprised 69.1% of the study populations. Actual spaceflight was studied in 28.1% of articles, and Earth-based models of microgravity were used in 43.3%. Cardiovascular outcomes were the most frequently reported (60.1%). For full-text screening, the primary focus was on 855 studies reporting cardiovascular outcomes in humans exposed to actual microgravity. Within this group, the most common outcomes were heart rate (70 studies), cardiac measurements (47 studies), and blood pressure (45 studies), while vasculature outcomes were reported in 27 studies. This curated and annotated dataset provides a foundation for future quantitative synthesis to support the mechanistic understanding of spaceflight-induced cardiovascular changes. The findings are directly relevant to upcoming human missions to the Moon and Mars, helping inform health risk mitigation strategies for long-duration space travel.