title: Effect of Novel, School-Based High-Intensity Interval Training (HIT) on Cardiometabolic Health in Adolescents: Project FFAB (Fun Fast Activity Blasts) - An Exploratory Controlled Before-And-After Trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Low-volume high-intensity interval training holds promise for cardiometabolic health promotion in adolescents, but sustainable interventions must be practical and engaging. We examined the effect of a school-based multi-activity low-volume high-intensity interval training intervention on adolescents' cardiometabolic health.
  
  
  METHODS
  In an exploratory controlled before-and-after design, 101 adolescents (mean age ± standard deviation [SD] 14.0 ± 0.3 years) were recruited from four schools; two were designated as intervention sites (n = 41), and two as control (n = 60). The intervention comprised 4 to 7 repetitions of 45 s maximal effort exercise (basketball, boxing, dance and soccer drills) interspersed with 90-s rest, thrice weekly for 10 weeks. Outcomes were non-fasting blood lipids and glucose, waist circumference, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, resting blood pressure, physical activity, twenty-metre shuttle-run test performance and carotid artery intima-media thickness. The difference in the change from baseline (intervention minus control) was estimated for each outcome. Using magnitude-based inferences, we calculated the probability that the true population effect was beneficial, trivial, and harmful against a threshold for the minimum clinically important difference of 0.2 between-subject SDs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mean (± SD) attendance for the intervention (expressed as percentage of available intervention sessions [n = 30]) was 77 ± 13%. Post-intervention, there were likely beneficial effects for triglycerides (-26%; 90% confidence interval -46% to 0%), waist circumference (-3.9 cm; -6.1 cm to -1.6 cm) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (+16 min; -5 to 38 min), and a possibly beneficial effect for twenty-metre shuttle-run test performance (+5 shuttles; -1 to 11 shuttles) in intervention participants (vs controls). The role of elevated triglycerides and waist circumference in cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome development underlines the importance of our findings. We also demonstrated that school-based low-volume high-intensity interval training can be delivered as intended, thus representing a novel and scalable means of improving aspects of adolescents' cardiometabolic health.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02626767.
authors.affiliation: Health and Social Care Institute, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Kathryn L
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5918-6389
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Weston
authors.affiliation: Health and Social Care Institute, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Liane B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Azevedo
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bock
authors.affiliation: School of Social Sciences, Business & Law, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weston
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moore's University, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Keith P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: George
authors.affiliation: Health and Social Care Institute, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Alan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Batterham
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D065187:Controlled Before-After Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D000072696:High-Intensity Interval Training / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012574:Schools; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood*; D055105:Waist Circumference
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D014280:Triglycerides; D002097:C-Reactive Protein