Comparative efficacy of exercise training modes on systemic metabolic health in adults with overweight and obesity: a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Huiying Wang; Ruitang Cheng; Lijun Xie; Fang Hu

doi:10.3389/fendo.2023.1294362

Comparative efficacy of exercise training modes on systemic metabolic health in adults with overweight and obesity: a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024 Jan 16:14:1294362. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1294362. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Huiying Wang¹, Ruitang Cheng¹, Lijun Xie¹, Fang Hu¹

Affiliation

¹ National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases, Key Laboratory of Diabetes Immunology, Ministry of Education, Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.

Abstract

Objective: This network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted to compare and rank the effects of training interventions including aerobic exercise (AE), resistance training (RT), combined aerobic and resistance training (CT), and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on vital metabolic indicators in adults with overweight and obesity.

Methods: PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and Web of Science were searched from 1990 to February 2023. Articles were included if they described randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the effects of exercise training on anthropometry parameters, lipid profiles, glucose metabolism, blood pressure, and cardiorespiratory fitness in adults with overweight and obesity. Weighted mean difference with 95% CI was calculated.

Results: A total of 28 studies with 1,620 patients were included. Results revealed that AE exerts best effects on weight loss (-2.35 [-4.05, -0.64]) and body mass index (-0.9 [-1.38, -0.42]), while HIIT is the most effective in reducing waist circumference (-5.93 [10.71, -1.15]), percentage body fat (-3.93 [-5.73, -2.12]), serum triglycerides (-20.55 [-37.20, -3.91]), and fasting blood glucose (-14.31 [-22.47, -6.16]) and improving VO₂ max (7.41 [4.37, 10.45]). However, no significant benefit was observed in terms of total cholesterol and blood pressure.

Conclusions: AE is the optimal exercise type for reducing body weight and BMI, while HIIT exerts the most beneficial effects on improving body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness, and metabolic abnormalities in adults with overweight and obesity.

Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42023444322, identifier CRD42023444322.

Keywords: HIIT; exercise training; metabolism; network meta-analysis; obesity.

Publication types

Meta-Analysis
Systematic Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Body Weight
Exercise / physiology
Humans
Network Meta-Analysis
Obesity* / metabolism
Overweight* / metabolism
Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by grants from National Key R&D Program, China (2020YFA0803604; 2022YFA0806102), National Natural Science Foundation of China (91957113; 31871180) to FH.