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Exercise and Diabetes-Related Cardiovascular Disease: Systematic Review of Published Evidence from Observational Studies and Clinical Trials

  • Macrovascular Complications in Diabetes (PD Reaven, Section Editor)
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Abstract

The cost of treating cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes is enormous and is set to rise in the coming years. Physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors are major risk factors for these diseases and are estimated to account for several million global deaths annually. Lifestyle interventions, particularly those aimed at enhancing physical activity levels, have a substantial favorable impact on diabetes progression in people at high risk of the disease. Although observational studies and small intervention studies suggest that physical activity might also prevent CVD in people with diabetes, this is not supported by the results of larger randomized controlled trials of lifestyle intervention. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the published studies focused on the role of physical activity in CVD prevention in persons with diabetes, and to discuss the implications of these studies’ findings. Our review identified almost 100 studies published in the past decade relevant to this topic.

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Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Acknowledgments

The authors’ opinions are the result of many past interactions with mentors, colleagues, collaborators, students, and fellows, for which the authors express their thanks. P. W. Franks is funded by EXODIAB, Lund University, Umeå University, Region Skåne health authority, the Swedish Diabetes Association, the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, the European Union, Novo Nordisk, and the National Institutes of Health. R. W. Koivula was funded by a grant from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement n 115317 (DIRECT) as part of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) (to PWF) and a STAR Novo Nordisk co-financed PhD fellowship. This work was done as part of the DIRECT consortium. Å. B. Tornberg received funding from the World Village of Women’s Sports Foundation.

Conflict of Interest

Robert W. Koivula declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Åsa B. Tornberg declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Paul W. Franks declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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  1. Department of Clinical Sciences, Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Lund University, SE-205 02, Malmö, Sweden

    Robert W. Koivula, Åsa B. Tornberg & Paul W. Franks

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  1. Robert W. Koivula
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Correspondence to Paul W. Franks.

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Koivula, R.W., Tornberg, Å.B. & Franks, P.W. Exercise and Diabetes-Related Cardiovascular Disease: Systematic Review of Published Evidence from Observational Studies and Clinical Trials. Curr Diab Rep 13, 372–380 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-013-0373-0

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