Abstract
Objectives
Caffeine has well-documented benefits on endurance athletic performance. Because of
caffeine’s ergogenic effects of reducing perceived fatigue, it is hypothesized that
as duration of athletic event increases, so will the effect size of caffeine upon
performance. This study aims to examine the relationship between duration of endurance
athletic event and the effect size of caffeine compared to placebo for athletic performance.
Design
A systematic review and meta-analysis of placebo-controlled trials assessing the effects
of caffeine in adults performing endurance athletic events.
Methods
We searched MedLine, Web of Science, and review article references published through
March 2016. We performed meta-analyses on placebo-controlled trials to determine the
effect of the duration of an endurance athletic event on the standardized mean difference
(Cohen’s d) between the caffeine and placebo groups for athletic performance.
Results
Forty articles including 56 unique comparison groups were included. Pooled results
showed a Cohen’s d of 0.33 (95% CI = 0.21, 0.45; p = 1.00; I2 = 0%). The effect of the duration of athletic event was significantly associated with
Cohen’s d (Relative Risk: 0.005; 95% CI = 0.001, 0.009; p = 0.024). For a 30 min increase in duration of the athletic event, Cohen’s d will increase by 0.150.
Conclusions
This study is the first to report on the statistical finding that the effect size
of caffeine increases along with the increasing duration of the time trial event.
Endurance athletes may especially benefit from caffeine for performance enhancement.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 20, 2018
Accepted:
July 26,
2018
Received in revised form:
July 16,
2018
Received:
February 28,
2018
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
