Background: Aging is generally associated with numerous metabolic and physical changes that augment susceptibility to several chronic conditions, disability, and diminished quality of life.
Objective: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to investigate the efficacy of resistance training on quality of life, depression, muscle strength, and functional exercise capacity in older adults (≥60 years).
Data sources: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, MEDLINE, Cochrane, Google Scholar, and Scopus up to December 20, 2021.
Results: 21 studies (N = 1610) were included. Resistance training significantly improved physical functioning (standard mean differences (SMD), 0.31; p = 0.02), mental health (SMD, 0.44; p = 0.001), bodily pain (SMD, -0.52; p = 0.004), general health (SMD, 0.43; p = 0.002), social functioning (SMD, 0.25; p = 0.006), and mental component score (SMD, 0.51; p = 0.001) subscales. Moreover, depression (SMD, -1.13; p = 0.01), upper-limb muscle strength (mean difference (MD), 15.26 kg; p = 0.002), lower-limb muscle strength (MD, 48.46 kg; p = 0.02), and handgrip muscle strength (MD, 1.35 kg; p = 0.003) significantly improved following resistance training. No benefits were found for vitality, physical component score, total score of quality of life, and the 6-min walk distance.
Conclusion: Preliminary evidence reveals that resistance training can be effective for improving most domains of quality of life, upper- and lower-limb muscle strength, handgrip strength, and depression in aged people. More proof is hence needed to draw solid conclusions.
Keywords: elderly; exercise; performance; psychological health; randomized controlled trials.