A 12-week prospective randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of aerobic training on type 2 diabetes patients

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of a 12-week aerobic exercise program in the management of patients with type 2 diabetes. A prospective randomized controlled trial with repeated measures was conducted. Thirty-six Hong Kong Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes (mean age, 58.1 yr) were randomized into Group 1 (exercise, n = 24) and Group 2 (controls, n = 16). Assessments at baseline and at three months included anthropometry, body fat measurement, biochemistry, six-minute walking distance (6MWD) assessment, exercise capacity, and SF-36® quality of life assessment (QualityMetric Inc., Lincoln, RI). Blood glucose was monitored before and after each exercise session. The immediate response to one hour of moderate aerobic exercise was a significant decrease in blood glucose (10.4 ± 3.5 mmol/L to 7.1 ± 2.7 mmol/L, p < 0.05). After 12 weeks, significant differences were noted between the groups in 6MWD (498 ± 128 m versus 299 ± 75 m, p = 0.000), exercise capacity in terms of metabolic equivalent units (5.1 ± 1.0 METs versus 2.8 ± 0.8 METs, p = 0.001), and insulin sensitivity (1.7 ± 1.0 S1 versus 4.3 ± 2.5 S1, p = 0.048). Group 1 also demonstrated an increase in HDL (1.16 ± 0.30 mmol/L to 1.27 ± 0.33 mmol/L, p = 0.002), lower body weight (67.3 ± 12.8 kg to 66.9 ± 12.8 kg, p = 0.045), lower body mass (26.5 ± 4.6 BMI to 26.3 ± 4.6 BMI), reduced glycosylated hemoglobin HbA1c) (8.1 ± 1.3 percent to 7.7 ± 1.0 percent), and improved quality of life. In contrast, participants in Group 2 showed a significant decrease in the SF-36 social functioning domain (p = 0.035), lowered scores in all eight quality of life domains, and no changes in other variables. We conclude that moderate aerobic exercise should be advocated in the management of patients with type 2 diabetes.