• Pooja Bhati, Jamal Ali Moiz, Geetha R Menon, and M Ejaz Hussain.
• Centre for Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University), New Delhi, 110025, India.
• Clin. Auton. Res. 2019 Feb 1; 29 (1): 75-103.

PurposeTo systematically evaluate the literature on the effects of resistance training (RT) on cardiac autonomic control in healthy and diseased individuals.MethodsElectronic databases Pubmed, PEDro, and Scopus were systematically searched from their inception up to June 2018. Randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental trials, and cross-over controlled trials investigating the effect of RT (of at least 4 weeks duration) on cardiac autonomic control assessed either by linear or non-linear measures of heart rate variability (HRV), baroreflex sensitivity, or post-exercise heart rate recovery were included. Of the studies retrieved, 28 were included in the systematic review. Meta-analysis was performed on 21 studies of the total 28 studies.ResultsQuality and characteristic assessment revealed fair quality evidence. The majority of literature on healthy humans suggested no change in cardiac autonomic control following RT. Standardized mean differences (SMD) showed a significant effect of RT on root mean square of successive differences between adjacent inter-beat (R-R) intervals (RMSSD) [SMD 0.96, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.20-1.73; p = 0.01], ratio of low- to high-frequency power of HRV (LF/HF ratio; SMD -0.72, 95% CI -1.03 to -0.42; p < 0.00001), standard deviation of the instantaneous beat-to-beat variability (SD1; SMD 1.78, 95% CI 1.07-2.49, p < 0.00001), and sample entropy (SMD 1.17, 95% CI 0.36-1.97, p = 0.005) in diseased individuals.ConclusionThis rigorous systematic analysis revealed that RT has no or minimal effects on cardiac autonomic control of healthy individuals, but RT leads to improvement in cardiac autonomic control of diseased individuals.

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