Effects of Short-Term High-Intensity Versus Moderate-Intensity Interval Training on Cardiopulmonary Fitness and
Jinna Chang1, Juan Wang2, Bingqing Bai3
1Department of Cardiology, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou; Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, Guangzhou.
Objective:
Overweight or obese patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) often exhibit reduced cardiopulmonary fitness and increased cardiometabolic risk. This study aimed to compare the effects of 4-week supervised high-intensity interval training (HIIT) versus moderate-intensity interval training (MIIT) on exercise capacity and metabolic health in this population.
Design:
Retrospective study.
Setting:
A tertiary care hospital.
Participants:
One hundred forty-five (N=145) overweight or obese patients with CVD who completed 12 supervised exercise sessions between 2021 and 2024 were included, including 63 who engaged in HIIT and 82 in MIIT.
Interventions:
Both groups completed 12 sessions of structured aerobic interval training. The MIIT group performed moderate-intensity intervals at 40%-55% of peak power, whereas the HIIT group performed high-intensity intervals at 80%-90% of peak power.
Main Outcome Measures:
Cardiopulmonary exercise testing, body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumference, and metabolic biomarkers were assessed before and after the rehabilitation programs.
Results:
Both HIIT and MIIT significantly improved exercise workload time, peak oxygen uptake (peak VO2), BMI, waist circumference, metabolic syndrome (MetS) z-score, and MetS components (all P<.05). Compared with MIIT, HIIT induced a greater increase in exercise workload time, with no other between-group differences in the remaining outcomes after Benjamini-Hochberg correction. In exploratory analyses, improvements in peak VO2 were positively correlated with reductions in body weight and BMI within the HIIT group.
Conclusions:
Short-term structured aerobic exercise, including HIIT and MIIT, improves cardiopulmonary fitness and metabolic health, supporting its integration into cardiac rehabilitation programs for overweight or obese patients with CVD.
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