Low-volume walking HIIT: Efficient strategy to improve physical capacity and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in older women with type 2 diabetes.

Background and Aims: To compare the effect of a low-volume walking high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) on risk of cardiovascular diseases and physical capacity in older women with type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Methods: Thirty inactive older women with T2D were randomized into either HIIT (75 min/week) or MICT (150 min/week). Cardiovascular risk profile (lipid profile; waist circumference and fat mass; resting, post-exercise and ambulatory blood pressure [BP]; VO ₂ peak; UKPDS score; ABC's) and physical capacity were assessed before and after a 12-week intervention.
Results: While resting systolic and diastolic BP (all p ≤ 0.01) were reduced, ambulatory BP (p ≥ 0.49) and lipid profile (p ≥ 0.40) remained unchanged after the intervention. Although VO ₂ peak increased to a similar extent in both groups (p = 0.015), the distance covered during the 6MWT (p = 0.01) and grip strength (p = 0.02) increased to a greater extend in HIIT. The UKPDS risk score decreased in both groups after the intervention (p = 0.03) and 31% of the participants reached the ABC's compared to 24% at baseline.
Conclusion: Low-volume walking HIIT is an efficient exercise intervention for older women with T2D as it improved some CVD risk factors and physical capacity. Nevertheless, neither low-volume HIIT nor MICT is sufficient to affect ambulatory blood pressure in T2D patients.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The present manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere, has not previously been published, and has been approved by all authors. Moreover, the authors declare no conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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