Baseline participant characteristics
| All (N=437) | Control (n=92) | Exercise groups | |||
| 4 KKW (n=151) | 8 KKW (n=99) | 12 KKW (n=95) | |||
| Age, years | 57.32 (6.46) | 57.14 (5.91) | 57.78 (6.53) | 57.58 (6.63) | 56.47 (6.72) |
| Education, years | 14.03 (2.11) | 14.01 (2.12) | 13.80 (2.02) | 14.37 (2.06) | 14.00 (2.28) |
| Married, n (%) | 398 (91) | 86 (93) | 141 (94) | 87 (88) | 84 (88) |
| Ethnicity/race, n (%) | |||||
| White | 278 (64) | 58 (63) | 92 (61) | 60 (61) | 68 (72) |
| African–American | 128 (29) | 23 (25) | 49 (32) | 32 (32) | 24 (25) |
| Hispanic/other | 31 (7) | 11 (12) | 10 (7) | 7 (7) | 3 (3) |
| Employed, n (%) | 304 (70) | 62 (67) | 105 (70) | 67 (68) | 70 (74) |
| Cigarette smoking, n (%) | 25 (6) | 5 (5) | 8 (5) | 4 (4) | 8 (8) |
| Medication use, n (%) | |||||
| Antihypertensive | 126 (29) | 22 (24) | 41 (27) | 32 (32) | 31 (33) |
| Hyperlipidaemia | 73 (17) | 14 (15) | 31 (21) | 17 (17) | 11 (12) |
| Thyroid | 65 (15) | 12 (13) | 19 (13) | 16 (16) | 18 (19) |
| Antidepressant | 78 (18) | 16 (17) | 28 (19) | 18 (18) | 16 (17) |
| Hormone replacement therapy | 202 (46) | 48 (52) | 67 (44) | 43 (43) | 44 (46) |
| Antianxiety | 20 (5) | 7 (8) | 7 (5) | 4 (4) | 2 (2) |
| Sedatives/sleep aids | 12 (3) | 4 (4) | 5 (3) | 3 (3) | 0 (0) |
| Energy intake, kcal/day | 2277.2 (952.6) | 2277.4 (947.9) | 2213.1 (941.6) | 2290.7 (930.7) | 2364.7 (1003.5) |
| Anthropometrics | |||||
| Weight, kg | 84.46 (11.82) | 85.77 (12.43) | 83.56 (11.42) | 84.74 (12.43) | 84.33 (11.24) |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 31.77 (3.85) | 32.29 (3.94) | 31.54 (3.80) | 31.98 (4.08) | 31.44 (3.58) |
| Cardiorespiratory fitness | |||||
| Relative VO2peak, ml/kg/min | 15.37 (2.92) | 15.56 (3.00) | 15.44 (3.00) | 14.70 (2.49) | 15.77 (3.05) |
| Absolute VO2peak, l/min | 1.29 (0.26) | 1.33 (0.28) | 1.28 (0.24) | 1.24 (0.24) | 1.32 (0.26) |
| Heart Rate Variability* | |||||
| rMSSD, ms | 22.83 (11.56) | 23.35 (11.01) | 23.58 (12.24) | 23.25 (11.29) | 20.68 (11.19) |
| Subjective sleep quality | |||||
| MOS Sleep Problems Index | 27.92 (18.40) | 28.37 (19.71) | 27.03 (17.92) | 27.35 (18.10) | 29.47 (18.32) |
| Sleep disturbance, n (%) | 200 (46) | 38 (41) | 65 (43) | 49 (49) | 48 (51) |
Data presented as mean (SD) unless otherwise indicated.
↵* Samples for rMSSD data were 351, 79, 123, 73 and 76 participants for all, control, 4 KKW, 8 KKW and 12 KKW groups, respectively.
KKW, kilocalories of energy expenditure per kilogram of body weight per week; MOS, Medical Outcomes Study; rMSSD, square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent R–R intervals; VO2peak, peak rate of oxygen consumption.