Recreational futsal provides broad-spectrum fitness and health benefits but no blood pressure effects in men with treated hypertension – a randomised controlled trial

ABSTRACT

We determined the coadjuvant effect of a recreational futsal (RF) programme versus standard care alone (CON) in men with treated arterial hypertension (TAHT). Thirty-nine men with TAHT were randomised to RF (N = 20; 48 ± 8 years; systolic blood pressure [SBP]: 122 ± 14 mmHg) with 2–3 one-hour sessions/week for 3 months, or to CON (N = 19; 51 ± 6 years; SBP: 126 ± 13 mmHg). Participants were assessed at baseline, at 3 months, and after 1 month of training cessation (4 months). Mean training attendance was 60 ± 23%. At 3-months, there were no between-group differences in BP parameters (SBP: 0.44 mmHg; 95% CI: −5.79, 6.67). However, compared to CON, RF was effective for peak oxygen uptake (2.76 mL.min⁻¹.kg⁻¹; 95% CI: 0.26, 5.26), time to exhaustion (1.15 min; 95% CI: 0.59, 1.69), Yo-Yo IE1 performance (365 m; 95% CI: 175, 556), resting heart rate (RHR; −5 b.min⁻¹; 95% CI: −10, −1), glycated haemoglobin (−0.52 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.84, −0.19), blood glucose (−0.25 mmol/L; 95% CI: −0.44, −0.06), left femur bone mineral content (1.96 g; 95% CI: 0.29, 3.65), and postural balance (−2.3 falls; 95% CI: −3.9, −0.6). Similar findings were observed after 1-month of training cessation, except for RHR and blood glucose that returned to baseline levels in the RF group. In conclusion, RF provides broad-spectrum fitness and health benefits but no BP effects in men with TAHT.

KEYWORDS:

• Controlled hypertension
• recreational team sports
• recreational soccer
• intermittent exercise

Acknowledgements

We thank all the participants for their committed participation. We also express our gratitude to the students and technicians of the Faculty of Sports, University of Porto and of the University of Maia, who assisted with the data collection and provided technical support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and material

Data is available upon reasonable request to the authors.

Consent to participate

All participants provided written consent.

Ethics approval

Ethical approval was obtained from Instituto Universitário da Maia Ethics Committee (57/2021). The study was prospectively registered in ClinicaTrials.gov (NCT05185297).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2023.2300568

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by National Funds by FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology under the following project UID04045/2020 (https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/04045/2020). This work also has the support from Porto Sports Medicine Center (IPDJ, IP). Jorge Teixeira [SFRH/BD/143729/2019], Ivone Carneiro [SFRH/BD/144132/2019] and Rita Pereira (SFRH/BD/136789/2018) are supported by grants from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.