Changes in Menopausal Risk Factors in Early Postmenopausal Osteopenic Women After 13 Months of High-Intensity Exercise: The Randomized Controlled ACTLIFE-RCT.

The menopausal transition is a critical period in women’s lives. Exercise might be the most promising non-pharmaceutic intervention to address the large variety of risk factors related to the pronounced estradiol decline during peri- and early-postmenopause. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of an 18-month multipurpose exercise program on risk factors and symptoms related to the menopausal transition. Fifty-four women 1– 5 years postmenopause with osteopenia or osteoporosis were randomly assigned 1) to a high impact weight-bearing/high-intensity/velocity resistance training group (EG: n=27) exercising three times a week or 2) to an attendance control group (CG: n=27) that performed low-intensity exercise once a week. Both groups were supplemented with cholecalciferol and calcium. The primary study endpoint was bone mineral density (BMD) at lumbar spine (LS) and total hip, secondary outcomes were lean body mass (LBM), total and abdominal body percentage, metabolic syndrome Z-Score (MetS-Z), menopausal symptoms and muscle strength and power. Due to COVID-19, the study was stopped after 13 months. We observed significant effects for BMD-LS (EG: 0.002± .018 versus CG: − .009± 0.018 mg/cm2, p=0.027) but not for BMD total hip (EG: − 0.01± .016 versus CG: − .009± 0.020 mg/cm2, p=0.129). LBM improved significantly in the EG and decreased in the CG (0.39± 1.08 vs − 0.37± 1.34 kg, p=0.026). Total and abdominal body fat improved significantly in the EG and was maintained in the CG (− 1.44± 1.49 vs − 0.02± 1.55 kg, p=0.002 and -1.50± 2.33 vs 0.08± 2.07 kg, p=0.011). Significant effects in favor of the EG were also determined for menopausal symptoms (p=0.029), hip/leg extension strength (p< 0.001) and power (p< 0.001). However, changes of the MetS-Z did not differ significantly (p=0.149) between EG and CG. In summary, with minor exceptions, we demonstrated the effectiveness of a multipurpose exercise protocol dedicated to early-postmenopausal women on various risk factors and complaints related to the menopausal transition

Changes in menopausal risk factors in early postmenopausal osteopenic women after 13 months of high-intensity exercise: The randomized controlled ACTLIFE-RCT

The menopausal transition is a critical period in women’s lives. Exercise might be the most promising non-pharmaceutic intervention to address the large variety of risk factors related to the pronounced estradiol decline during peri-and early-postmenopause. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of an 18-month multipurpose exercise program on risk factors and symptoms related to the menopausal transition. Fifty-four women 1–5 years postmenopause with osteopenia or osteoporosis were randomly assigned 1) to a high impact weight-bearing/high-intensity/velocity resistance training group (EG: n=27) exercising three times a week or 2) to an attendance control group (CG: n=27) that performed low-intensity exercise once a week. Both groups were supplemented with cholecalciferol and calcium. The primary study endpoint was bone mineral density (BMD) at lumbar spine (LS) and total hip, secondary outcomes were lean body mass (LBM), total and abdominal body percentage, metabolic syndrome Z-Score (MetS-Z), menopausal symptoms and muscle strength and power. Due to COVID-19, the study was stopped after 13 months. We observed significant effects for BMD-LS (EG: 0.002±.018 versus CG: −.009±0.018 mg/cm2, p=0.027) but not for BMD total hip (EG: −0.01±.016 versus CG: −.009±0.020 mg/cm2, p=0.129). LBM improved significantly in the EG and decreased in the CG (0.39±1.08 vs −0.37±1.34 kg, p=0.026). Total and abdominal body fat improved significantly in the EG and was maintained in the CG (−1.44±1.49 vs −0.02±1.55 kg, p=0.002 and-1.50±2.33 vs 0.08±2.07 kg, p=0.011). Significant effects in favor of the EG were also determined for menopausal symptoms (p=0.029), hip/leg extension strength (p&lt;0.001) and power (p&lt;0.001). However, changes of the MetS-Z did not differ significantly (p=0.149) between EG and CG. In summary, with minor exceptions, we demonstrated the effectiveness of a multipurpose exercise protocol dedicated to early-postmenopausal women on various risk factors and complaints related to the menopausal transition

Clinical Sports Medicine

Purpose: The menopausal transition is a critical period in womens lives. The central aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of a multimodal exercise protocol on the cardiometabolic risk factor potentially related to menopausal transition in early postmenopausal women. Methods: Fifty-four (54) early-postmenopausal women (54.01.8 years) were randomly assigned to two groups: (1) exercise group (EG: n=27) which conducted a high intensity aerobic and resistance training three times/week and (2) active control group (CG: n=27) exercising once a week with low exercise intensity. Besides bone density, the main variable of this project, the outcome variable in this thesis was also cardiometabolic risk, as summarized by the Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) Z-Score. We applied Intention-to-Treat (ITT) and Per Protocol Analyses (PPA) with multiple imputation and used standardized mean differences to illustrate the effects.Results: After 16 weeks of exercise two participants (EG: n=1; CG: n=1) were lost to follow-up. Effects for the MetS Z-Score were moderate (EG: -0.361.36 vs. CG: 0.512.28; SMD: 0.47, 95% CI: -0.08 to 1.03), albeit borderline non-significant (ITT: p=.089; PPA: p=.060). Conclusion: The present multimodal exercise protocol just failed to affect the MetS Z-Score and its underlying cardiometabolic risk factors. Whether this result can be generalized to the entire cohort of early-postmenopausal women or whether it has to be attributed to the only moderately high exercise intensity during the early weeks of the intervention along with a relatively short intervention period remains to be evaluated.Key Words: Metabolic Syndrome, MetS Z-Score, Menopausal Transitio