A 2-year follow-up to a randomized controlled trial on resistance training in postmenopausal women: vasomotor symptoms, quality of life and cardiovascular risk markers

Abstract Background Most women experience vasomotor symptoms (VMS) during the menopausal transition. A 15-week resistance training intervention (RTI) significantly reduced moderate-to-severe VMS (MS-VMS) and improved health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and cardiovascular risk markers in postmenopausal women. Whether a short RTI could have long-term effects is unknown. We aimed to investigate whether there were intervention-dependent effects two years after a 15-week RTI on MS-VMS frequency, HRQoL, and cardiovascular risk markers in postmenopausal women. Methods This observational prospective cohort study is a follow-up to a randomized controlled trial (RCT) on a 15-week RTI in postmenopausal women (n = 57). The control group had unchanged low physical activity during these first 15 weeks. At the follow-up contact two years post-intervention, 35 women agreed to participate in an additional physical visit at the clinic with clinical testing, blood sampling, and magnetic resonance imaging, identical to the protocol at the baseline visit at the start of the RCT. Results Although all women showed reduced MS-VMS and increased moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) over the 2-year follow-up compared to baseline, the groups from the original RCT (intervention group; IG, control group; CG) changed differently over time (p