Effects of aerobic exercise on asthma control and quality of life in adults: a systematic review

Objective The aim of this study is to review the effects of aerobic exercise on asthma control and quality of life in adult patient populations. Data Sources Randomized controlled trials and prospective studies published between January 2012 and April 2022 were searched in Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases. Study Selections We followed pre-specified inclusion criteria and excluded manuscripts that studied pediatric populations and those that did not study asthma control or quality of life. We included ten randomized controlled trials and four prospective studies from a combined 2286 search results. Results Of the included studies, all but three studies found significant improvement in asthma control and quality of life after aerobic intervention. The method of measuring aerobic intervention varied among the studies. Statistical significance was consistent among studies that used maximal heart rate and peak power output to measure intervention. Conclusion Aerobic exercise intervention can improve asthma control and quality of life in both the acute and chronic response phase. Aerobic activity can be measured by various methods, but in this review, there were no significant adverse events with activity. Higher quality studies are necessary to confirm these results.