Spain: Exercise reduces increase in medication that would otherwise be required for the management of metabolic syndrome (MetS), finds a recent study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Felix Morales-Palomo, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, and colleagues aimed to determine the effects of a five-year exercise intervention on metabolic syndrome (MetS) and health related variables, and medication use for MetS management.
The participants were randomly assigned to either exercise intervention (n=25, 54±2y, 20% women) or control group (n=26, 54±2y, 38% women). The intervention consisting of high-intensity interval training on a cycloergometer thrice a week lasted four months per year.
Outcomes were MetS Z- and medication use score, MetS-related variables (including blood pressure, blood glucose homeostasis and lipid profile), and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF, as determined by maximal oxygen uptake).
Key findings of the study include:
MetS Z-score was similarly reduced over time in both groups.
A quasi-significant and significant group*time interaction was found for MetS factors and CRF respectively.
MetS factors tended to decrease over time only in the exercise group with no change in the control group whereas CRF increased from baseline to five-year assessment in the exercise group (by 1.1 MET) but decreased in the control group (-0.5 MET).
Medicine use score increased twofold from baseline to five-year follow-up in the control group but did not significantly change (10%) in the exercise group.
The proportion of medicated patients who had to increase antihypertensive, glucose-lowering or total medication over the five-year period was lower in the exercise than in the control group.
"Exercise training can attenuate the increase in medication that would be otherwise required to manage MetS over a five-year period," wrote the authors.
The study titled, "Exercise Reduces Medication for Metabolic Syndrome Management: A Five-Year Follow-up Study," is published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.