Author(s): WINTERTON, E., UNDERWOOD, D., HAYNES, A., NAYLOR, L., FEGAN, GP., YEAP, BB., GREEN, D., Institution: THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA , Country: AUSTRALIA, Abstract-ID: 2125

INTRODUCTION:
Incretin-based therapies, including Tirzepatide (T, Mounjaro), have transformed the management of obesity. We hypothesised that resistance training, combined with tirzepatide treatment, would lead to greater improvements in cardiovascular risk factors than tirzepatide alone.
METHODS:
In this randomised controlled trial, 110 participants aged 50-70 years with a body mass index (BMI) of ≥30, or ≥27kg/m² with ≥1 comorbidity, received a once weekly dose of tirzepatide for 24 consecutive weeks (Tirzepatide & Resistance Exercise: T+REX, n=55, M=28, F=27; Tirzepatide & No Exercise: T+NEX, n=55 M=30 F=25). T+REX attended progressive, supervised, centre-based resistance exercise thrice weekly. Risk factors measured at Wk 0 and Wk 24 included body mass, BMI, waist circumference, waist:hip ratio (WHR), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) and resting heart rate (HR). Two-way repeated measures ANOVA was conducted to test for time and group*time interactions.
RESULTS:
After an average 24 weeks of treatment, body mass decreased by 16.6±10.8 (99.6±17.3 to 83.0±14.2 kg, P<0.001), BMI by 5.9±1.6 (33.8±3.8 to 27.9±3.9 kg/m2, P<0.001), waist circumference by 15.2±5.6 (108.6± 11.6 cm to 93.4±11.9 cm, P<0.001), WHR by 0.04±0.04 (0.9±0.1 to 0.8±0.1, P<0.001), SBP by 12±10 (129±14 to 117±12 mmHg, P<0.001) and DBP 5±7 (75±9 to 70±8 mmHg, P<0.001). No significant group*time interactions were evident for any of these variables. Resting HR increased over time by 5±7 (63±8 to 68±8 bpm, P<0.001), also with no significant group*time interaction.
CONCLUSION:
This is the first study to investigate the impacts of tirzepatide, with and without supervised resistance exercise, in overweight/obese individuals on a variety of metabolic health markers. Tirzepatide treatment resulted in improvements in all CV risk factors over 24 weeks of treatment, except for resting heart rate which increased. There was no interaction of resistance exercise with tirzepatide treatment on these outcomes. Engaging in resistance exercise may result in modest improvements in cardiovascular risk factors beyond those associated with tirzepatide treatment alone.