The effect of aerobic and concurrent training on cardiovascular and metabolic control in middle-aged type II diabetics

Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of concurrent or aerobic training on middle-aged patients with T2DM. For this, 36 participants (24 women, 54.6±6.9 yrs.) completed a 12-week intervention program in the following groups: control (CON; n=12), concurrent training (CROS; n=12), and aerobic training (AER; n=12). Body mass, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol and fractions, rate-pressure product, walking speed test and cardiovascular risk were measured before and after the intervention. The main results indicated that after 12 weeks, the trained groups presented lower rate-pressure product in comparison to the pre-intervention means (Δ=-544.0 for CROS and Δ=-998.0mmHg.bpm for AER, p≤0.043). The CROS presented a lower mean for HbA1c (6.8±1.7, 5.2±1.3, 7.8±1.6%, for CON, CROS and AER, respectively; p≤0.049) and total cholesterol (171.8±43.3, 155.2±30.7 and 272.8±24.0 mg/dL, for CON, CROS and AER, respectively; p=0.001) compared to the other groups at the post-intervention moment. The CROS showed a significant difference for low density lipoprotein (LDL) at the post-intervention compared to the pre-intervention moment (Δ=-20.3 mg/dL, p=0.001). The AER showed a higher mean for the Walking speed test compared to the other groups (420.2±37.5, 502.4±28.5 and 626.7±39.9 meters, for CON, CROS and AER, respectively; p≤0.001) at the post-intervention moment. In conclusion, the present evidence allows us to conclude that the AER and CROS interventions provide metabolic and cardiovascular improvements after 12 weeks in middle-aged T2DM for both genders. The AER group showed a better response in the rate-pressure product and walking-speed test, whereas the CROS presented a better response to HbA1c, total cholesterol and LDL.