High-intensity aerobic and resistance training for metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) affects 20-30% of Australian adults, increasing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Moderate-intensity physical activity is a primary management strategy, but Australian adults fail to meet current physical activity guidelines. Two key barriers are time and accessibility. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) may offer a solution to these barriers. This thesis explores the role of HIIT to improve cardiovascular risk factors in adults with MetS. The literature review (Chapter 2) examined exercise for adults with MetS. It showed that HIIT may be a time-efficient alternative to current guidelines with no apparent additional risk of adverse events. The systematic review and meta-analysis (Chapter 3) examined the optimal exercise prescription characteristics for adults with MetS without metabolic or cardiovascular disease. Results indicated that aerobic exercise interventions conducted 3 days per week for 12 weeks offer widespread and substantive benefits for adults with MetS, and these methodological principles were applied to the experimental HIIT intervention (Chapters 4-5). The small randomised controlled pilot trial of 13 participants (62% female; mean age = 55 years) assessed the efficacy of a stair climbing HIIT protocol for MetS (Chapters 4-5). The intervention was compared to supervised walking thrice weekly and an active control group that was prescribed the current exercise guidelines. Brief intervals of stair climbing did not affect cardiorespiratory fitness but did elicit a superior reduction in diastolic blood pressure than walking (log change = -0.651 [95% CI -1.3, -0.002], p = 0.049) and a greater improvement in stair climb power than control (mean difference = 106.5 [95% CI 7.1, 205.8], p = 0.039). In the Discussion (Chapter 6), the clinical utility of MetS was questioned: there is a lack of evidence that the cardiovascular risk conferred by MetS is synergistic, MetS is outperformed by other cardiovascular risk predictors, and the treatment strategy is not unique. Finally, general recommendations were presented for future studies: participants should require intervention for the specific risk factor, longer intervals of HIIT may be more appropriate for adults with cardiovascular risk factors, and real-world interventions are required.

Grantor dc:publisher

UNSW, Sydney

Year dc:date

2019

Author dc:creator

• Wewege, Michael

• Metabolic syndrome
• Exercise

Statement dc:rights

• open access
• CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
• free_to_read

Licence

• https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/

Language dc:language

EN

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/21391

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/63319