📰🧠🔬 VASCULAR DISEASE STUDY HIGHLIGHTS – The effects of exercise on secondary prevention and health-related quality of life in people with existing vascular disease: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials by Broderick, Cathryn et al.

This study investigates the effects of exercise on secondary prevention and health-related quality of life in people with existing vascular disease such as stroke and transient ischaemic attack (TIA).

Key Findings:
• Quality-of-Life Gains
Exercise significantly improved health-related quality of life at the end of interventions, as measured by both EQ-5D and SF-36 (moderate-certainty evidence).

• Fewer Hospitalizations
Participants who exercised experienced fewer vascular-related hospital admissions in both short-term and medium-term follow-up.

• No Significant Mortality Benefit
Exercise did not significantly impact all-cause or cardiovascular mortality overall, although there was a trend toward reduced cardiovascular death at long-term follow-up (more than 30 months).

• Data Gap for Polyvascular Patients
Most studies involved patients with a single vascular disease; fewer than half reported on comorbid vascular conditions. Therefore, it’s unclear how much these results apply to individuals with polyvascular disease.

📄 Access the full article at: Broderick, Cathryn et al. The effects of exercise on secondary prevention and health-related quality of life in people with existing vascular disease: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. eClinicalMedicine, Volume 83, 103201. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(25)00133-6/fulltext. This is an open-access article under a CC-BY 4.0 license.