RESUMEN
INTRODUCTION: Dance therapy is a non-conventional aerobic exercise in cardiovascular rehabilitation. This meta-analysis aimed to update and assess evidence from randomized controlled trials of dance therapy on patients with hypertension. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: PubMed, web of science, EBSCO, EMBESE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases in English or Chinese were searched and randomized controlled trials were conducted for this meta-analysis to investigate the effects of dance therapy on blood pressure in hypertension patients. Weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Heterogeneity was assessed by I2 test. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Five studies were included according to the eligibility criteria. Dance therapy could significantly reduce the systolic/diastolic pressure of hypertension individuals (SBP:WMD -11.07mmHg; 95%CI, -14.3 to -8.12mmHg, P<0.00001;DBP:WMD-4.16mmHg;95% CI, -6.44to-1.88mmHg, P=0.0004) when compared with the control group. low heterogeneity was observed in this research (P=0.65; I2=0% to SBP; P=0.57; I2 =0% to DBP). Subgroup analysis results showed that the subgroup of less than 12 weeks intervention group reduce the blood pressure more than those of 12 weeks intervention. Dance therapies reduce the SPB of hypertension individuals in African region better than Europe and America hypertension population. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the limited number of studies and people involved, the meta-analysis further demonstrated that dance therapy could reduce SBP and DBP in patients with hypertension. The effect of dance therapy intervention on hypertension might be related to duration of intervention and population gene.