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Eur J Appl Physiol (2017) 117:1403–1411
DOI 10.1007/s00421-017-3631-z
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Ambulatory blood pressure response to a bout of HIIT
in metabolic syndrome patients
M. Ramirez‑Jimenez1 · F. Morales‑Palomo1 · J. G. Pallares2 ·
Ricardo Mora‑Rodriguez1 · J. F. Ortega1
Received: 28 January 2017 / Accepted: 4 May 2017 / Published online: 10 May 2017
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017
analysis revealed no differences among trials during the
14-h.
Conclusion This study suggests that the blood pressure
reducing effect of a bout of exercise is influence by the
intensity of exercise. A HIIT exercise bout is superior to
an equivalent bout of continuous exercise when used as a
non-pharmacological aid in the treatment of hypertension
in MetS.
Keywords Hypertension · Metabolic syndrome · High
intensity interval training · Ambulatory blood pressure
Abbreviations
ABP Ambulatory blood pressure (systolic and
diastolic)
BMI Body mass index
DBP Diastolic blood pressure
GXT Graded exercise testing
HIIT High-intensity interval training
HSD Honest significant difference
MICT Moderate-intensity continuous training
MetS Metabolic syndrome
PEH Post-exercise hypotension
SBP Systolic blood pressure
VO2max Maximal oxygen consumption
Introduction
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is cluster of conditions that
raise the risk of suffering cardiovascular diseases among
other health problems. Hypertension, one of the compo-
nents of MetS, increases the risk of developing heart fail-
ure, atrial fibrillation (Angeli et al. 2014), stroke, coronary
artery disease (Shen et al. 2013), and peripheral vascular
Abstract
Purpose The effectiveness of exercise to lower blood pres-
sure may depend on the type and intensity of exercise. We
study the short-term (i.e., 14-h) effects of a bout of high-
intensity aerobic interval training (HIIT) on blood pressure
in metabolic syndrome (MetS) patients.
Methods Nineteen MetS patients (55.2 ± 7.3 years, 6
women) entered the study. Eight of them were normoten-
sive and eleven hypertensive according to MetS threshold
(≥130 mmHg for SBP and/or ≥85 mmHg for DBP). In
the morning of 3 separated days, they underwent a cycling
exercise bout of HIIT (>90% of maximal heart rate, ~85%
VO2max), or a bout of isocaloric moderate-intensity continu-
ous training (MICT; ~70% of maximal heart rate, ~60%
VO2max), or a control no-exercise trial (REST). After exer-
cise, ambulatory blood pressure (ABP; 14 h) was moni-
tored, while subjects continued their habitual daily activi-
ties wearing a wrist-band activity monitor.
Results No ABP differences were found for normoten-
sive subjects. In hypertensive subjects, systolic ABP
was reduced by 6.1 ± 2.2 mmHg after HIIT compared
to MICT and REST (130.8 ± 3.9 vs. 137.4 ± 5.1 and
136.4 ± 3.8 mmHg, respectively; p < 0.05). However,
diastolic ABP was similar in all three trials (77.2 ± 2.6 vs.
78.0 ± 2.6 and 78.9 ± 2.8 mmHg, respectively). Motion
Communicated by Carsten Lundby.
* Ricardo Mora-Rodriguez
ricardo.mora@uclm.es
1 Exercise Physiology Lab at Toledo, University of Castilla-La
Mancha, 45071 Toledo, Spain
2 Human Performance and Sport Science Lab, University
of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
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