Article Text
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.
- A1c
- Physical Exercise And Health
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Footnotes
Contributors FN, MM, AY and AA researched the data; AY, NMA and MN contributed to discussion and wrote the manuscript; JHG, VS and HN reviewed/edited the manuscript and helped in researching the data.
Funding This work was supported by Tabriz University of Medical Sciences grant number 93-43-2211.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Obtained.
Ethics approval Ehtics Committee in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement Additional data are available at the website of BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care.