LAUSR

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of resistance exercise (RE) on body structure & function, activity and participation in individuals with Parkinson's Disease (PD) in the mild to moderate stages. DATA SOURCES PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, Lilacs and PEDro were searched from inception until June 2020 using the terms Parkinson Disease, Exercise, Resistance Training, Muscle Strength, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Postural Balance, Gait, and Quality of Life. STUDY SELECTION Studies conducted in individuals with PD, involving RE compared to a control group were included. Two independent reviewers performed the selection process based on titles, abstracts, and fulltext reading. Of the ten selected studies, 270 individuals with PD were included. DATA EXTRACTION Characteristics related to participants, intervention and control types, and results were independently extracted by two reviewers. The PEDro scale was used to assess the methodological quality, and the level of evidence was analyzed and synthesized using the GRADE approach. DATA SYNTHESIS The level of evidence for body structure & function was low and without effect (lower limb muscle strength), very low and with effect (upper limb muscle strength, cardiorespiratory fitness and postural balance) and very low and without effect (flexibility) after RE training. For activity the evidence was very low and with effect (gait) and very low and without effect (mobility). For participation (quality of life) the evidence was very low and without effect. CONCLUSION Although the level of evidence was low to very low, RE was shown to promote improvements in body structure & function (upper limb muscle strength, cardiovascular function and postural balance) and activity (gait). In contrast, RE did not significantly improve participation (quality of life). However, based on the present findings, the practice of RE can be recommended for individuals with PD in the mild to moderate stages.