Women With Previous GDM and the Effects of HIIT.

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to investigate if women with previous gestational diabetes (pGDM) are characterized with unique metabolic and molecular alterations compared to women without pGDM. Furthermore if 8 weeks of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) can improve these alterations. The main questions we aim to answer are:

1. Women with pGDM have metabolic abnormalities compared with women without pGDM, and that these metabolic abnormalities are explained by unique molecular abnormalities in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue.
2. Eight weeks of HIIT combining rowing and cycling can markedly improve these metabolic abnormalities in women with pGDM and these improvements are explained by beneficial cellular and molecular changes in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue.

Researchers will compare 20 women with pGDM to 20 glucosetolerant without pGDM, who are matched on age, BMI and times since last pregnancy.

Participants will undergo a screening visit and examinations on two separate days before (day 1 and day 2) and two separate days after (day 3 and day 4) 8-weeks of HIIT, in all cases after an overnight fast (≥ 12 h). Day 1 and day 3 will include assessment of body composition and VO2max. On day 2 and day 4, the insulin sensitivity, substrate metabolism, and β-cell function of the participants will be examined by a Botnia-clamp combined by indirect calorimetry. Skeletal muscle biopsies from m. vastus lateralis and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue biopsies are taken in the basal and insulin-stimulated states of each clamp.

Conditions

• Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM)
• Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM)
• High-intensity Interval Training

Interventions

OTHER

High-intensity interval training

The training intervention consists of 8-weeks of HIIT combining rowing and cycling on ergometers with two supervised sessions weekly in small groups of up to 10 participants. All HIIT sessions will start with a 10-min warm-up period followed by training blocks of 5 x 1 min high-intensity intervals (100-110% of Wattmax corresponding to ≥ 85% of maximum heart rate (HRmax)) each interspersed by 1 min active or resting recovery. Between the training blocks, the participants will have a 4-min break in which they shift from cycling to rowing or vice versa. The number of training blocks will gradually increase from two to five blocks during the 8-week intervention period with one block being added every second week. Halfway through the HIIT-protocol the workload will be adjusted according to a midway VO2max test. Participants will wear a heart monitor during training sessions.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Southern Denmark

  collaborator OTHER

• Odense University Hospital

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kurt Højlund, Prof. Dr. med. · Steno Diabetes Center Odense, Odense University Hospital

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

25 Years

Max Age

45 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-03-13

Primary Completion

2028-01-31

Completion

2028-11-30

Countries

• Denmark

Study Locations