OBJECTIVE: It is advised that patients engage in physical activity to enhance their quality of life and achieve better results. The purpose of the current study was to measure the efficacy of exercise on the physical ability, cardiac function and cardiopulmonary fitness of patients with AF. METHODS: A comprehensive systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science from 1991 to 2023 for RCTs comparing physical exercise combined with AF routine treatments to routine treatments alone. The meta-analysis was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Our main outcomes were physical ability (measured by the 6-min walk test, 6MWT), cardiac function (measured by left ventricular ejection fraction, LVEF) and cardiopulmonary fitness (measured by peak oxygen uptake and resting heart rate). Quality assessments were conducted using the Cochrane Collaboration tool. RESULTS: Thirteen trials involving 672 patients met the criteria for analysis. The results showed that physical exercise increased physical ability by improving the 6MWT (m) performance (MD 96.99, 95% CI 25.55 to 168.43; Z = 2.66; p = 0.008); and enhanced peak VO2 (ml/kg per min) (MD 4.85, 95% CI 1.55 to 8.14; Z = 2.89; p = 0.004) while reducing resting heart rate (beats per minute, bpm) (MD -6.14, 95% CI -11.30 to -0.98; Z = 2.33; p = 0.02). However, the results showed that regular exercise could improve LVEF (%) inpatients clinically, which had no statistic difference between experimental and control group (MD 1.49, 95% CI -0.25 to 3.24; Z = 1.68; p = 0.09). CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis shows that physical exercise is an effective intervention to improve the exercise ability and cardiopulmonary fitness for AF patients. Meanwhile, we also do not exclude the positive effect of exercise on the improvement of cardiac function (LVEF) in patients with AF. To this end, doctors should consider the positive impact of exercise on patients and give advice on exercise limits in practical clinical practice.

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