Optimising Exercise Prescription: A Meta-Analysis Examining the Dose Response of Exercise Duration on Cardiorespiratory Fitness Following HIIT and MICT.

Abstract

Background: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is often promoted as a time-efficient alternative to moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) for improving cardiorespiratory fitness, yet the duration of HIIT sessions varies considerably across studies.

Objective: We aimed to characterise the dose-response relationship between exercise session duration and the improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness for HIIT and MICT.

Methods: A dose-response meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials comparing exercise duration in HIIT and MICT, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022335590). Effect sizes were calculated using a random-effects meta-analysis. The primary outcome was maximal oxygen uptake (VO_2max). Secondary outcomes included blood pressure, lipid profiles, glucose metabolism markers and body composition measures. A one-stage random-effects dose-response meta-analysis was performed to examine the relationship between exercise duration and adaptations. We searched PubMed and Google Scholar; eligibility criteria for selecting studies were randomised controlled trials in humans, published in English and exercise interventions lasting at least 4 weeks.

Results: We identified 69 randomised controlled trials (2387 participants). High-intensity interval training elicited greater improvements in VO_2max than MICT (d = 0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.27-0.49, p < 0.001). High-intensity interval training demonstrated a non-linear dose-response relationship between exercise session duration and VO_2max, with 80% of maximal effect (changes in VO_2max = 3.45 mL/kg/min) achieved with only ~11 min/session (95% confidence interval 9.5-40.2). Moderate-intensity interval training showed a linear dose-response relationship between exercise session duration and VO_2max, requiring ~52 min/session to achieve 80% of the maximal observed effect (95% confidence interval 30.4-55.8). The dose-response relationship was consistent across populations. High-intensity interval training and MICT had comparable effects in improving cardiometabolic risk factors.

Conclusions: High-intensity interval training demonstrated a non-linear dose response, with 80% of maximal effect on VO_2max in ~11 min/session, whilst MICT required four to five times longer to reach similar responses. The different types of training had comparable effects on cardiometabolic risk factors.