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Table 1 Study design, sample size, and participant characteristics of included studies grouped by clinical population

From: High-Intensity Interval Training in Older Adults: a Scoping Review

Study

Study design

Population

Sample N

Age (years ± SD)

Females N (%)

Non-clinical populations

 Aboarrage et al. (2018) [18]

RCT; HIIT vs controla

Sedentary, healthy women

25

65 ± 7

25 (100)

 Adamson et al. (2019) [19]

QE; SIT vs controla

Sedentary, with well-controlled HTN, taking oral anti-hypertensive medication

17

66 ± 3

8 (47)

 Bailey et al. (2017) [20]

RCT (crossover); HIIT vs MCT vs controlb

Higher-and lower-fit healthy males

47

70 ± 5

0 (0)

 Brown et al. (2021) [21]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT vs controlb

Cognitively normal older adults

99

69.1 ± 5.2

54 (55)

 Bruseghini et al. (2015) [22]

QE (within-subject); HIIT vs RT

Moderately active males

12

68 ± 4

0 (0)

 Bruseghini et al. (2020) [23]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT

Healthy active older males

24

69.6 ± 4.1

0 (0)

 Coswig et al. (2020) [24]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT vs MIIT

Sedentary, female residents of a nursing home without comorbidities that would preclude participation

46

80.8 ± 5.2

46 (100)

 Donath et al. (2015) [25]

QE; HIIT

Healthy and physically active older and young adults

40

70 ± 4, 27 ± 3

21 (53)

 Herrod et al. (2020a) [26]

QE; HIIT (2-, 4-, or 6-week intervention) vs controlb

Healthy, recreationally active older adults

40

71 ± 5

19 (48)

 Herrod et al. (2020b) [27]

RCT: HIIT vs isometric handgrip training vs remote ischemic preconditioning vs controlb

Healthy older adults

48

71 ± 4

22 (46)

 Hwang et al. (2016) [28]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT vs controlb

Sedentary older adults

43

65 ± 1

 Kim et al. (2017) [29]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT vs controlb

Healthy, sedentary adults

49

64 ± 1

 Kovacevic et al. (2020) [30]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT vs stretching

Sedentary, healthy older adults

64

72 ± 5.7

39 (61)

 Krusnauskas et al. (2018) [31]

RCT (crossover); SIT (6 × 5 s or 3 × 30 s “all-out” vs 3 × 60 s “submaximal”)

Young and older women

19

65.7 ± 2.8, 19.5 ± 1.3

19 (100)

 Linares et al. (2020) [32]

RCT (crossover); HIIT vs MCT vs SIT

Healthy older adults recruited from cycling clubs and recreational centers

30

69.6 ± 6.2

15 (50)

 McSween et al. (2020) [33]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT vs stretching

Healthy older adults

60

66.4 ± 4.6

43 (72)

 Mejias-Pena et al. (2016) [34]

RCT; HIIT vs controla

Healthy older adults

29

69.7 ± 1

21 (72)

 Mekari et al. (2020) [35]

RCT; SIT vs MCT vs RT

Healthy, active older adults

69

68 ± 7

42 (61)

 Nakajima et al. (2010) [36]

QE; HIIT vs controlc

Older participants in a health promotion program and young controls

473

65.4 ± 7.5, 19.4 ± 0.9

 Nederveen et al. (2015) [37]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT vs RT

Sedentary older men

22

67 ± 4

0 (0)

 O’Brien et al. (2020) [38]

RCT; SIT vs MCT vs RT

Healthy, active older adults

38

67 ± 6

23 (61)

 Osuka et al. (2017) [39]

QE (within-subject); HIIT vs MCT

Elderly men

21

67.6 ± 1.8

0 (0)

 Stockwell et al. (2012) [40]

RCT (crossover); HIIT vs MCT

Participants with baseline exercise of 90 min per week

22

68.4 ± 3.8

6 (38)

 Storen et al. (2017) [41]

QE; HIIT

Healthy adults (ages 20–83 y) divided into age cohorts by decades

94

70+ cohort: 74.4 ± 4.4

22 (23)

 Venckunas et al. (2019) [42]

RCT (crossover); SIT (6 × 5s or 3 × 30 s “all-out” vs 3 × 60 s “submaximal”)

Untrained young, endurance-trained young cyclists, and untrained older males

11

69.9 ± 6.3

0 (0)

 Vogel et al. (2011) [43]

QE; HIIT

Untrained “older” and “young” seniors

150

66.0 ± 6.9

70 (47)

 Windsor et al. (2018) [44]

RCT (crossover); HIIT vs MCT vs controlb

Lower-fit and higher-fit healthy older adults

30

70.6 ± 5.7

4 (13)

 Wyckelsma et al. (2017) [45]

QE; HIIT vs controlb

Older adults, active at baseline

15

69.4

6 (40)

 Yasar et al. (2019) [41]

RCT (crossover); SIT (interspersed with 3 or 5 days of recovery)

Physically active older and young adults

18

70 ± 8, 24 ± 3

6 (33)

 Yoo et al. (2017) [46]

RCT (crossover); HIIT vs MCT vs LCT

Healthy men and post-menopausal women

28

67 ± 1

15 (54)

Cardiovascular populations

 Bailey et al. (2018) [47]

RCT (crossover); HIIT vs MCT vs controlb

Males, healthy or with AAA

44

73 ± 6

0 (0)

 Currie et al. (2012) [48]

RCT (crossover); HIIT vs MCT

Participants with CAD

10

66 ± 1

1 (10)

 Currie et al. (2013) [49]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT

Participants with a recent CAD event

22

65 ± 10

2 (9)

 dos Santos et al. (2018) [50]

RCT (crossover); HIIT vs MCT

Participants with HTN

15

65.1 ± 5.37

 Guiraud et al. (2009) [51]

RCT (crossover); SIT (15s or 60-s intervals with passive or active rest)

Participants with stable CAD

19

65 ± 8

2 (11)

 Helgerud et al. (2009) [52]

QE; HIIT vs controle

Participants with peripheral arterial disease

21

67.5 ± 6.3

4 (19)

 Moore et al. (2020) [53]

QE (pre-post); HCT vs controld

Stroke rehabilitation inpatients

110

73.5 ± 12.2

47 (43)

 Nepveu et al. (2017) [54]

RCT; HIIT vs controlb

Patients with chronic stroke, average MoCA = 25.3

22

64.9 ± 11.2

5 (23)

 Reichert et al. (2016) [55]

RCT; HIIT vs HCT (both with stretching)

Participants with HTN

25

67.9 ± 5.9

 Sosner et al. (2016) [56]

RCT; HIIT (dryland vs immersed) vs MCT

Participants with HTN

42

65 ± 7

20 (48)

 Tew et al. (2017) [57]

RCT; HIIT vs usual care for 4 weeks before surgery

Participants with infrarenal AAA who were eligible for open or endovascular repair

53

74.7 ± 5.9

3 (6)

 Windsor et al. (2018) [58]

RCT (crossover); HIIT vs MCT vs controlb

Healthy or with small AAAs

40

72.5 ± 5.7

0 (0)

Cardiac disease

 Angadi et al. (2015) [59]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT

Patients with HFpEF and NYHA II-III

15

70 ± 8.3

3 (20)

 Ellingsen et al. (2017) [60]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT vs controle

Patients with LVEF ≤ 35% and NYHA II-III

231

61.8

40 (17)

 Fu et al. (2013) [61]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT vs controld

Participants with HF

45

67.2 ± 2.2

16 (36)

 Iellamo et al. (2014) [62]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT

Chronic HF secondary to CAD

36

67.8 ± 7.0

5 (14)

 Isaksen et al. (2015) [63]

QE; HIIT vs controlb

Participants with HF and an implantable defibrillator

35

66.2 ± 9.1

3 (8)

 Isaksen et al. (2016) [64]

QE; HIIT vs controlb

Participants with ischemic heart disease and an implantable cardioverter defibrillator

30

67.1 ± 9.0

2 (7)

 Munch et al. (2018) [65]

QE; HIIT

Healthy or patients with HF

14

61.4 ± 5.2

2 (25)

 Spee et al. (2020) [66]

RCT; HIIT vs controld

Participants with HF selected for cardiac resynchronization therapy

24

68.9 ± 6.4

5 (21)

 Thijssen et al. (2019) [67]

QE; HIIT vs MCT vs controlb

Participants with HF

29

65 ± 8

5 (17)

Metabolic disease

 Andonian et al. (2018) [68]

QE; HIIT

Sedentary patients with prediabetes or rheumatoid arthritis

21

Prediabetes: 71.4 ± 4.9

Rheumatoid Arthritis: 63.9 ± 7.2

16 (76)

 Bartlett et al. (2020) [69]

QE; HIIT

Sedentary older adults with prediabetes and healthy young adults

10

71 ± 5

6 (60)

 Boukabous et al. (2019) [70]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT

Women with abdominal obesity

18

65.1 ± 3.6

18 (100)

 Hwang et al. (2019) [71]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT vs controlb

Participants with T2DM

50

63 ± 1

23 (46)

 Karstoft et al. (2017) [72]

RCT (crossover); MCT vs HIIT vs controlb

Participants with T2DM

14

65.3 ± 1.7

3 (21)

 Maillard et al. (2016) [73]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT

Overweight women with T2DM

17

69 ± 1

17 (100)

 Mohammadi et al. (2017) [74]

QE; HIIT vs controla

Obese men

24

71.6 ± 5.0

0 (0)

 Pandey et al. (2017) [75]

RCT; HCT vs MCT

Participants newly diagnosed with T2DM

40

66.6 ± 9.0

12 (30)

Other

 Banerjee et al. (2018) [76]

RCT; HIIT vs controld

Participants with bladder cancer listed for radical cystectomy

60

72.1 ± 7.6

7 (12)

 Devin et al. (2019) [77]

QE; HIIT (single session vs 4-week training)

Male colorectal cancer survivors

20

65.9 ± 7.2

0 (0)

 Fiorelli et al. (2019) [78]

RCT (crossover); HIIT vs MCT vs controlb

Participants with Parkinson’s disease

12

66.5 ± 8.0

6 (50)

Hoffmann et al. (2016) [79]

RCT; HIIT vs controla

Community-dwelling participants with mild Alzheimer’s disease

200

70.5 ± 7.4

87 (44)

 Keogh et al. (2018) [80]

RCT; MCT vs HIIT

Participants with knee osteoarthritis

17

62.4 ± 8.3

13 (76)

 Mitropoulos et al. (2018) [81]

RCT; SIT (arm crank or cycling) vs controlb

Participants with limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis

34

65.3 ± 11.6

31 (91)

 Northey et al. (2019) [82]

RCT; HIIT vs MCT vs control

Breast cancer survivors

17

62.9 ± 7.8

17 (100)

 Rizk et al. (2015) [83]

RCT; HIIT vs HCT vs MCT

Participants with COPD

35

67.3 ± 8.8

21 (60)

 Rodriguez et al. (2016) [84]

QE; HIIT vs MCT

Participants with COPD

29

68 ± 8

2 (7)

 Uc et al. (2014) [85]

QE (initially randomized, then all allocated to MCT only); HIIT vs MCT and individual vs group training

Participants with Parkinson’s disease, Hoehn and Yahr stages 1–3

60

65.4 ± 6.2

19 (31.7)

  1. Control specifiers: ausual activities; bnon-exercise control; ctype of control not specified; dusual healthcare; erecommendation of usual exercise
  2. RCT randomized controlled trial (if not further specified, parallel design); QE quasi-experimental (if not further specified, parallel design); HIIT high-intensity interval training; SIT sprint interval training; HCT high-intensity continuous training; MCT moderate-intensity continuous training; LCT low-intensity continuous training; RT resistance training; HTN hypertension; AAA abdominal aortic aneurysm; CAD coronary artery disease; HF heart failure; HFpEF heart failure with preserved ejection fraction; NYHA New York Heart Association; LVEF left ventricular ejection fraction; T2DM type 2 diabetes mellitus; COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease