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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

Pooled review of 9 studies in heart failure: infrared sauna had mixed results

Källström and colleagues · Clinical cardiology · 2018

Original title: Effects of sauna bath on heart failure: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Mixed

Infrared sauna was linked to lower BNP (a heart strain blood marker), smaller heart size ratio and better ejection fraction. There was no effect on systolic or diastolic blood pressure. Only infrared saunas qualified.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
9 studies · people with heart failure
What was tested
Infrared sauna at 60°C for 15 minutes, 5 times a week for 2 to 4 weeks, vs no sauna
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
How long
4 weeks
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
Clinical cardiology, 2018
Source
PubMed record 30239008. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 9 studies.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a pooled review (meta-analysis), and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: heart disease, blood pressure and death

    3

    3 benefit

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    2

    1 benefit, 1 no difference

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    5

    2 benefit, 1 mixed, 2 no difference

  4. Population studies

    4

    4 benefit

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does sauna use lower heart disease risk?”

Possibly, but not proven in trials.

Confidence: low. Based on 21 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Other reviews on this question

See all 21 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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