A short-term concurrent training program enhances arterial stiffness and flow-mediated dilation in overweight or obese women independent of weight loss

Background and aims Despite a wide amount of evidence regarding vascular improvements in overweight/obesity condition, little is known about similar vascular benefits from exercise training without weight loss. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a 6-week concurrent training (CT) program on pulse wave velocity (PWV), flow-mediated dilation (FMD), and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) average (cIMT av ) and maximum (cIMT max ) in overweight/obese women who did not report weight loss. Additionally, the relationship between vascular outcomes and anthropometric and body composition measurements was examined. Methods We conducted a secondary analysis of a clinical trial assessing the effects of CT on cardiovascular markers. Forty-three overweight/obese women (age = 42.4 ± 12.8 years; BMI = 29.7 ± 3.2 kg/m²) were divided into control (CG, n = 21), ‘exercise without weight loss’ (EG-NWL; n = 9), and ‘exercise with weight loss’ (EG-WL; n = 13) groups. The primary outcomes included PWV, FMD, cIMT av , and cIMT max , and the secondary outcomes included waist circumference (WC), body fat (BF), skeletal muscle mass (SMM), lean mass, and other vascular measures, reported as absolute and delta (Δ) values. Results ΔPWV differed between CG and EG-NWL (0.2 vs. –1.2 m·s-1, P = 0.0002) and between CG and EG-WL (0.2 vs. –0.7 m·s-1, P = 0.0002). ΔFMD showed differences between CG and EG-NWL (–0.6 vs. 6.9%) and between CG and EG-WL (–0.6 vs. 4.5%). Each delta of ΔPWV, ΔFMD, ΔcIMT av , and ΔcIMT max was significantly associated with ΔWC ( r s = 0.920; 0.912; 0.597; 0.767, P < 0.05), ΔBF% ( r s = 0.847; 0.791; 0.465; 0.695, P < 0.05), ΔSMM ( r s = 0.889; 0.566; 0.934; 0.940, P < 0.05). Conclusion Overweight and obese women who did not lose weight after CT experienced a decrease in PWV and an increase in FMD. The correlations between changes in ΔPWV, ΔFMD, ΔcIMT av , and ΔcIMT max with body composition measures suggest directions for future research.