High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) as a therapeutic tool in patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A narrative review

Introduction: Physical exercise is essential for people with T2DM, although there are often problems to practice it, the most frequent being the lack of time. However, the rise of methods such as HIIT provides a solution to these barriers, since they allow improving health with a few minutes of exercise per day. Objective: To cant' out a narrative review about the effects of HIIT on different health parameters in people with T2DM. Methodology: After the search in databases (PubMed, SPORTDiscus and Medline) 52 articles were obtained. Taking into account the inclusion-exclusion criteria, 16 articles were included. All included studies are experimental (clinical trials) published in the last 10 years. Excluded are articles that cannot be accessed, reviews, studies whose intervention is similar but not equal to HIIT and those related to genetics. Results: Of the total number of included studies (16), there are 14 that affinm that HIIT improves the health of subjects with T2DM. Significant improvements were observed in: lipid profile, glycemic control, insulin resistance, HbA1c, blood pressure, body composition, endothelial function and physical fitness. There are 2 studies in which no improvement is observed. Conclusions: HIIT has positive effects on the health of people with T2DM, since it improves physical fitness, cardio-metabolic health, body composition and quality of life. HIIT may represent a good strategy to improve health in DMT2. More studies are nedeed.