Abstract: Objective: To systematically evaluate the intervention effects of water-based exercises on health outcomes of hypertension patients. Methods: A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, Embase, EBSCO, Scopus, CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, and CBM databases was carried out to collect randomized controlled trials on water-based exercises for hypertension patients from inception to June, 2021. Results: Totally 9 RCTs involving 363 patients were included. Meta-analysis results showed that water-based exercises significantly improved blood pressure and heart rate in hypertensive patients compared with other physical therapy (P<0.05). However, there was no statistical significance in improving atherosclerosis (P>0.05). Conclusion: Compared with other physical therapy, water exercises can significantly improve blood pressure and heart rate in hypertension patients but the effect on atherosclerosis is not significant. More high-quality studies are needed in the future.

Key words: water-based exercise; hypertension; systematic review; Meta-analysis