BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to use the meta-analytic approach to examine the effects of walking on lipids and lipoproteins in adults. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials that examined the effects of walking on total cholesterol (TC), high- and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C and LDL-C), the ratio of TC/HDL, and triglycerides (TG) in adults ages 18 years and older were retrieved via computerized literature searches, cross-referencing, hand-searching, and expert review of our reference list. RESULTS: Twenty-five studies that included 1,176 subjects (692 walkers, 484 controls) and up to 33 outcomes were available for pooling. Using random-effects modeling, statistically significant, walking-induced decreases of 5% and 6% were observed for LDL-C and TC/HDL-C (LDL-C, mean +/- SE, -5.5 +/- 2.2 mg/dL, 95% CI -9.9 to -1.2 mg/dL; TC/HDL-C, mean +/- SE, -0.3 +/- 0.1, 95% CI -0.6 to -0.1). No statistically significant changes were observed for TC, HDL, or TG (p > 0.05), although changes were in the direction of benefit. No statistically significant changes occurred in body composition (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Walking reduces LDL-C and TC/HDL-C in adults independent of changes in body composition.
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