Overall characteristics of available evidence from randomised controlled trials on exercise interventions and medications
| Endurance | Dynamic resistance | Isometric resistance | Combination exercise* | ACE-I | ARB | β-blocker | CCB | Diuretic | |
| Number of trials† | 135 | 48 | 12 | 31 | 57 | 36 | 63 | 9 | 46 |
| Mean age in years | 50.8 | 48.5 | 51.9 | 54.0 | 54.4 | 55.0 | 52.1 | 52.3 | 55.0 |
| Proportion female | 59% | 60% | 47% | 75.4% | 41% | 39% | 47% | N/A‡ | 43% |
| Mean baseline SBP (mmHg) | 134 | 125 | 129 | 135 | 157 | 156 | 160 | N/A‡ | 158 |
| Mean enrolment (range) | 58 (15-464) | 35 (15-96) | 30 (15-48) | 65 (16-387) | 174 (14-625) | 292 (40–1369) | 139 (7–1092) | 185 (15-397) | 188 (24–2776) |
| Years covered | 1976–2018 | 1987–2018 | 1992–2018 | 2001–2017 | 1983–2002 | 1995–2004 | 1968–2008 | 1988–2003 | 1978–2009 |
*N/A: not sufficient information reported in meta-analysis report and supplementary material.
†Number of trials does not add up to total number of RCTs included in the analysis, as some RCTs included more than one class of antihypertensive medications or one type of exercise interventions.
‡Combination of endurance exercise and dynamic resistance training.
ACE-I, angiotensin- converting enzyme inhibitor; ARB, angiotensin-2 receptor blocker; CCB, calcium channel blocker; RCTs, randomised controlled trials; SBP, systolic blood pressure.