Abstract
Background: High intensity interval training (HIIT) has been reported to exert better effects on cardiovascular fitness in obesity, but little known about the arterial stiffness (AS) in normal weight obesity (NWO) females. Thus, this study investigated the changes of body composition, heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), blood lipids as well as the parameters of propensity for AS (arterial velocity pulse index (AVI) and arterial pressure volume index (API)).Methods: Forty NWO female university students were randomly assigned to the control group (n=20) or the HIIT group (30 minutes at 90% HRmax, n=20). The participants in HIIT group accepted a four-week HIIT intervention for five days a week. The above parameters of body composition, cardiometabolic biomarkers, lipid profile, and AS were assessed before and after the HIIT intervention. Results: HIIT significantly improved the body composition in decreasing the BMI (p=0.001), BF% (p<0.001), BFM (p<0.001), LBFM (p<0.001), LMC (p=0.016), and Obesity degree (p=0.001), and increased the SMM (p=0.020), Protein content (p=0.035), TBW (p=0.017), FFM (p=0.019), BCM (p=0.020), and Inbody score (p<0.001). HIIT also affected the cardiometabolic biomarkers by decreasing the HR (p=0.001), SBP (p<0.001), and DBP (p<0.001). As for the lipid profile, HIIT obviously ameliorated the blood lipids metabolism by decreasing the levels of TC (p=0.001), TG (p<0.001), LDL (p<0.001), and TC/HDL (p<0.001), and increasing the levels of HDL (p<0.001). In addition, the AS was improved by HIIT intervention through decreasing the AVI (p<0.001) and API (p<0.001).Conclusions: Our results provided herein demonstrate that this pattern of a 4-week HIIT had a positive impact on physical fitness in the aspect of body composition, lipid profile, and cardiovascular function in NWO female university students.Trial registration: ChiCTR2100050711. Registered 3 September 2021. Retrospectively registered.
Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training on Improving Arterial Stiffness in Chinese Normal Weight Obese Female University Students: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial
