Abstract
Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of global mortality. Although the incidence may
be reduced with regular exercise, the health benefits of a single bout of exercise on selected CVD risk factors are
not well understood. The primary objective of this review is to consider the transient effects of exercise on
immune (neutrophil count) and inflammatory (interleukin-6 [IL-6], C-reactive protein [CRP]) markers in untrained
adults.
Methods: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Sports Discus and Cochrane were searched for relevant studies published
from January 1946 to May 2013. Randomised controlled or crossover studies which measured any of these
parameters in untrained but otherwise healthy participants in the 48 h following about of exercise, less than 1 h in
duration were included.
Results: Ten studies met the inclusion criteria. The results indicate a single bout of aerobic or resistance exercise
of moderate to high intensity promotes an increase in IL-6 (145 %) and neutrophil counts (51 %). It appears that
30–60 min of moderate to high intensity exercise is necessary to elicit such changes although variables such as
the mode, intensity and pattern of exercise also affect the response. The acute response of CRP within the
included studies is equivocal.
Conclusions: Although responses to CRP are inconsistent, a single bout of exercise can increase the activity of
both circulating IL-6 and neutrophil counts in untrained adults. These immune and inflammatory responses to a
single bout of exercise may be linked to a range of health benefits.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 35 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Sports Medicine Open |
| Volume | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 20 Oct 2015 |
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- A Systematic Review of the Acute Effects of Exercise on Immune and Inflammatory Indices in Untrained Adults
© 2015 The Authors. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.