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. 2017 Nov 8;5(1):e000414.
doi: 10.1136/bmjdrc-2017-000414. eCollection 2017.

Effect of regular exercise training on changes in HbA1c, BMI and VO2max among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: an 8-year trial

Farzad Najafipour  1 , Majid Mobasseri  2 , Abbas Yavari  3 , Haidar Nadrian  4   5 , Akbar Aliasgarzadeh  2 , Naimeh Mashinchi Abbasi  6 , Mitra Niafar  2 , Jalil Houshyar Gharamaleki  1 , Vahideh Sadra  2
Affiliations

Effect of regular exercise training on changes in HbA1c, BMI and VO2max among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: an 8-year trial

Farzad Najafipour et al. BMJ Open Diabetes Res Care. .

Abstract

Objective: The effects of regular exercise on the health promotion of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have been well documented. The present study investigated the long-term effects of regular exercise training on biological indicators among these patients.

Methods: In this quasi-experimental trial with pretest-post-test design, 65 patients with T2DM aged 33-69 years (experiment (35), control (30)) participated. After 8 years of conducting the program, the data on 30 patients (experiment (15), control (15)) were entered into analysis. The training program included aerobic exercise three sessions per week, 90 min, 50%-80% VO2max. Before and after the intervention, the biological indicators (hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), body mass index (BMI) and VO2max) were measured. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance.

Results: Our long-term exercise training program had a significant effect on HbA1C, BMI and Vo2max (P<0.05). Compared with patients in the control group, HbA1c was significantly reduced and BMI and VO2max were significantly improved among the experiment group.

Conclusions: Long-term regular physical activity training was found to be helpful in improving glycemic control, body composition and cardiovascular fitness among patients with T2DM. Long-term continuous physical activity offsets the deteriorations of biological indicators found in the control group. Further research, with a particular focus on practical and real-world programming, is needed to determine the responsive health outcomes of such long-term programs on the patients.

Keywords: A1c; Physical Exercise And Health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study design and the participants’ dropout. T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Timeline changes in BMI and HbA1c of the patients with T2DM during the 8 years of study. BMI, body mass index; Exp., experiment group; Cont., control group; HbA1c, hemoglobin A1c.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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