Effects of Aerobic Exercise Versus High-Intensity Interval Training on V̇O2max and Blood Pressure

Today, more than 20% of the world's population suffers from hypertension, a major risk factor for heart disease. Therefore, lifestyle modifications such as dietary change, smoking cessation, and exercise are often prescribed to hypertensive patients as a first-line treatment. This study aims to examine and compare the effects of different exercise regimens on the cardiovascular system, particularly that of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and lower-to-moderate-intensity aerobic exercise (aka aerobic exercise).  After researching various databases and extracting 4,724 studies, 196 were viable within the exclusion criteria related to exercise's effects on blood pressure and maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O₂max). Of these, 36 studies were selected as viable, and their data is herein outlined. In addition, the results provided by these studies were summarized, respectively, and the raw data were analyzed using a two-tailed unpaired t-test. Through this study, we aim to clarify whether HIIT or lower-to-moderate-intensity aerobic exercise differ in their effects on improving cardiovascular health. It was observed that HIIT was non-inferior to lower-to-moderate-intensity aerobic exercise in the reduction of ambulatory blood pressure of hypertensive or normotensive individuals. However, HIIT was more effective at increasing cardiorespiratory fitness by means of V̇O₂max than aerobic exercise was. Considering the significant time-to-completion difference between both exercise modalities, it is remarkable that HIIT has the same benefits as lower-to-moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on blood pressure and higher efficiency in increasing V̇O₂max.