Abstract P133: Comparative Effectiveness of Aerobic, Resistance, and Combined Training on Health-related Quality of Life in Inactive, Overweight/Obese, and Pre-/Stage 1-Hypertensive Individuals: A Randomized Controlled Exercise Trial

Abstract

Introduction: Although regular exercise has been shown to improve health-related quality of life (HRQOL), there is still very little evidence on what type or combination of exercise is most effective for the improvement of HRQOL. Hypothesis: We examined the hypothesis that the combination of aerobic and resistance training has a greater improvement in HRQOL than aerobic training (AT) or resistance training (RT) only, in individuals with a relatively lower HRQOL who are inactive, overweight or obese, and pre- or stage 1-hypertensive. Methods: This 8-week randomized controlled exercise intervention included 69 adults aged at least 45 years old (mean age 58 years, 61% female, mean body mass index 32.4 kg/m2). All participants were randomly assigned to 1) AT only, 2) RT only, 3) a combination of AT plus RT, or 4) no exercise control group. All exercise participants had the same exercise duration (time-matched), 3 days per week for 60 minutes per session (total 180 minutes per week). We used the Short-Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire to measure HRQOL. All participants were included in the intention-to-treat analyses. We used linear mixed-effects models for repeated measures over time, and all analyses were adjusted for baseline values of each HRQOL domain, age, and sex. Results: From pre to post test, the AT improved two domains of the HRQOL: vitality (p<0.01) and mental health (p=0.03), and the combined AT plus RT improved three domains: vitality (p=0.01), mental health (p=0.04), and general health (p<0.01). Also, all exercise participants reported a significant improvement in health using the health change question of the SF-36 from pre to post test (all p values <0.05). Further, participants in the combined AT plus RT group reported a significant improvement in health, compared to the control group (p<0.01). In the analyses of the changes in total SF-36 score including all HRQOL domains, we found 3.4% (p=0.32), 5.3% (p=0.11), 8.5% (p=0.01), and 1.6% (p=0.63) improvement in total HRQOL in the AT, RT, combined AT plus RT, and control group, respectively, from pre to post test. Conclusions: In individuals who are inactive, overweight or obese, and pre- or stage 1-hypertensive, our results suggest that a combined AT plus RT exercise regimen appears to be more effective in improving HRQOL by providing additive benefits, compared to time-matched AT or RT only.