Abstract
Background: The purpose of this review was to compare the effectiveness of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) on cardiometabolic risk factors of obese children and adolescents. Methods: Relevant studies published in PubMed, MEDLINE and Web of Science databases were searched. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that examined the effect of HIIT and MICT on children and adolescents with obesity were included. Meta-analyses were conducted to determine the effect of HIIT on cardiometabolic risk factors using STATA software and potential moderators were explored (i.e., study duration, training modalities, work/rest ratio and work duration time). Results: Twelve RCTs involving 325 participants were included in the meta-analysis. HIIT showed more positive effects on maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max; SMD = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.39 to 1.35, p = 0.000) and systolic blood pressure (SBP; SMD = −0.64, 95% CI: −1.05 to −0.22, p = 0.003) than MICT. However, when compared with MICT, HIIT caused no significant differences in body weight, body mass index, body fat percentage, diastolic blood pressure and glycolipid metabolism markers. Furthermore, subgroup analysis showed that the effects of HIIT on VO2max and SBP were significantly different regarding protocol factors, such as modality, duration, training time, training settings, work/rest ratio and work duration. Conclusions: HIIT has a positive role in promoting cardiometabolic risk factors in obese children and adolescents. Moreover, when compared with MICT, HIIT had a more significant effect on improving cardiorespiratory fitness and systolic blood pressure. The factors of HIIT protocol had an important influence on the intervention effects of childhood obesity.
Highlights
According to the data of 12 trials that examined the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) vs. moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) on Body Mass Index (BMI), no significant difference between HIIT and MICT for BMI was observed (SMD: 0.03; 95% CI: −0.75 to 0.80; p = 0.949; Figure 3)
The main findings of the present study revealed that HIIT significantly improved and systolic blood pressure (SBP) compared with MICT (Table 5)
A subgroup analysis showed that VO2max and SBP were significantly different in different subgroups, such as modality, duration, training time, training settings, work/rest ratio and work duration
Summary
Obesity is a chronic metabolic disease that is caused by the excessive accumulation of body fat, which causes physical and psychological harm [1]. In the past two decades, childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions worldwide [2]. A recent epidemiological study showed that the number of obese children worldwide is about 107.7 million, and the rate of obesity in children is higher than that in adults [3]. Childhood obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and develops into diseases such as adult coronary heart disease, hypertension, metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) [4].
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