# Prevalence of Non-responders for Blood Pressure and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors Among Prehypertensive Women After Long-Term High-Intensity Interval Training PMID: 30405426 Journal: Frontiers in Physiology Published: 2018-10-23 Authors: Álvarez C, Ramírez-Campillo R, Cristi-Montero C, Ramírez-Vélez R, Izquierdo M ## Question Does 16 weeks of HIIT change blood pressure and cardiometabolic risk factors, and what is the prevalence of non-responders, among prehypertensive compared with normotensive sedentary overweight or obese women? ## Summary Sedentary overweight or obese women completed 16 weeks of supervised cycling HIIT. Women classified as prehypertensive had meaningful average reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, while normotensive women did not show the same blood pressure benefit. Both groups improved several body composition, metabolic, and walking-performance measures. Baseline systolic blood pressure was the simplest predictor of systolic blood pressure reduction, but the paper has no true non-exercise control group and reports some internally inconsistent non-responder percentages for blood pressure. ## Population - Sedentary overweight or obese adult women from Los Lagos, Chile, analyzed as prehypertensive (n=44) or normotensive (n=40) cohorts. - Sample size: 84 - Age: PreHTN 35.2 +/- 5.1 years; NTG 36.6 +/- 5.8 years. - Sex: Women only. - Fitness level: Sedentary/inactive. - Health status: Overweight or obese; prehypertensive or normotensive; no pharmacological therapy. ## Methodology - Longitudinal exercise intervention with non-randomized comparison by baseline blood pressure status; both groups received HIIT. - 16 weeks - Family Healthcare Center Tomas Rojas, Los Lagos, Chile; supervised cycle ergometer sessions. ## Protocol - Supervised cycling HIIT. - Modality: Cycle ergometer. - Work intervals: 1 minute. - Recovery: 2 minutes inactive recovery. - Sets or repetitions: 7-10 repetitions. - Intensity: 8-10 on modified Borg 1-10 scale; approximately 70-100% age-based maximum heart rate. - Session duration: 21-30 minutes. - Frequency: 3 sessions/week. - Program length: 16 weeks. - Progression: 7 intervals in weeks 1-4, 8 in weeks 5-8, 9 in weeks 9-12, 10 in weeks 13-16. - Normotensive status comparison with same HIIT. - Modality: Cycle ergometer. - Work intervals: 1 minute. - Recovery: 2 minutes inactive recovery. - Sets or repetitions: 7-10 repetitions. - Intensity: 8-10 on modified Borg 1-10 scale; approximately 70-100% age-based maximum heart rate. - Session duration: 21-30 minutes. - Frequency: 3 sessions/week. - Program length: 16 weeks. - Progression: Same progression as prehypertensive group. ## Outcomes ### Systolic blood pressure Status: improved PreHTN SBP decreased from 128 +/- 6 to 120 +/- 6 mmHg (delta -8 +/- 7); NTG changed from 108 +/- 5 to 111 +/- 8 mmHg (delta +3 +/- 9.8). PreHTN within-group P < 0.0001; between-group delta reported P < 0.0001 in table and P < 0.003 in text. ### Diastolic blood pressure Status: improved PreHTN DBP decreased from 85 +/- 8 to 80 +/- 10 mmHg (delta -5.8 +/- 11.7); NTG changed from 75 +/- 10 to 73 +/- 10 mmHg (delta -2.0 +/- 4.9). PreHTN within-group P < 0.0001; between-group delta P < 0.001 in table and P = 0.007 in text. ### Body composition Status: improved Both groups reduced body mass, BMI, skinfolds, and fat mass; waist circumference and abdominal skinfold changes differed significantly between groups. Examples: PreHTN body mass -3.3 kg, NTG -2.0 kg; fat mass -5.8% and -3.8%; waist circumference delta between groups P = 0.037. ### Metabolic markers Status: mixed Fasting glucose and triglycerides decreased in both groups; HDL-C increased in PreHTN; total cholesterol and LDL-C decreased significantly in NTG but not PreHTN. Fasting glucose delta comparison P < 0.01; LDL-C delta comparison P < 0.01; triglyceride delta comparison P = 0.045. ### Non-responder prevalence Status: mixed The paper reports different non-responder prevalence by blood pressure status, but blood-pressure NR percentages differ across sections. Abstract reports SBP NR 11.4% vs 68.8%; discussion reports SBP 11.4% vs 68.8% and DBP 31.8% vs 35.0%; results paragraph reports SBP 54.5% vs 92.5% and DBP 54.5% vs 85.0%, each P < 0.0001. ### Prediction of systolic blood pressure response Status: improved Baseline SBP alone was the simplest model and explained 51.2% of variance in SBP change. Model 1 R=0.715, R2=0.512, P < 0.0001; Model 3 R2=0.538. ## Practical Insights - A supervised 1-minute hard / 2-minute rest cycling HIIT protocol can be a time-efficient blood-pressure intervention candidate for sedentary overweight or obese prehypertensive women. - Blood pressure expectations should be conditioned on baseline blood pressure; normotensive participants may not lower SBP. - Consumer programming should preserve screening, progression, and monitoring cautions because the studied sessions were supervised and individual blood pressure increases occurred. ## Limitations - No true no-exercise control group. - Non-randomized grouping by baseline blood pressure status. - Women-only sedentary overweight/obese sample. - BIA was used for body composition rather than a gold-standard method. - Diet was not controlled. - Some baseline variables were nearly significantly different. - Blood-pressure non-responder percentages are internally inconsistent across sections. ## Safety And Adherence - No adverse events or injuries were reported in the extracted full text. - Participants with cardiovascular contraindications, stroke history, asthma/COPD, musculoskeletal disorders, or recent smoking were excluded. - Individual increases in systolic blood pressure were observed and discussed as adverse-response-relevant variability. ## Original Sources - [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30405426/) (pubmed) - [DOI](https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.01443) (doi) - [PMC full text](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6206174/) (full text) ## Agent Guidance Preserve the paper-level scope of this note. Do not generalize beyond the population, protocol, measured outcomes, and limitations above.