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Changes in vascular structure in diabetic patients after 8 weeks aerobic physical exercise: a randomized controlled trial

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International Journal of Diabetes in Developing Countries Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Diabetes is a highly prevalent metabolic disease with macrovascular and microvascular complications. Insulin resistance plays a major role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes patients. The risk of atherosclerosis progress in diabetes is of 2–4 orders of magnitude. Early atherosclerosis can be detected by carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) ultrasonography. There is an inverse relationship between intima-media thickness and physical activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of an 8-week aerobic exercise program on the vascular structure in different segments of the carotid artery. This study was a randomized control trial. Thirty individuals were selected out of 642 volunteers who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. They were randomly divided into aerobic exercise and control groups by a block randomization method. This study was carried out during May–October 2016 in Iran. The aerobic protocol comprised of 24 sessions of aerobic exercise on a treadmill for 30 min per session, 3 days a week. The intensity of the training protocol was 50–70% of the patient’s max heart rate. Measurements of vascular parameters were evaluated by the same person, before and after the 24-session intervention. There were no significant differences between anthropometric, sex, age, diabetic history, and cardiac ejection fraction, compared to baseline characteristics. Intima-media thickness (0.52 ± 0.12), intima-media/lumen (0.07 ± 0.02) in bulb carotid, common carotid, and internal carotid, as well as bulb wall, were reduced significantly in the training group compared to the control group after 8 weeks (p < 0.05). Twenty-four sessions of aerobic exercise improved vascular parameters in type 2 diabetics.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support of Shahid Beheshti Medical University, Tehran, Iran.

Funding

This study was not financially supported by any governmental institute. All costs have been paid by the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physiotherapy Department, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Soulmaz Rahbar

  2. Physiotherapy Research Centre, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Sedigheh Sadat Naimi, Asghar RezaSoltani & Abbas Rahimi

  3. Proteomics Research Center, School of Rehabilitation, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Alireza Akbarzadeh Baghban

  4. Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamedan, Iran

    Ali Noori

  5. Tehran Psychiatric Institute, School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Vahid Rashedi

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  1. Soulmaz Rahbar
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  2. Sedigheh Sadat Naimi
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  4. Abbas Rahimi
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Correspondence to Sedigheh Sadat Naimi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of Shahid Beheshti Medical University and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Rahbar, S., Naimi, S.S., RezaSoltani, A. et al. Changes in vascular structure in diabetic patients after 8 weeks aerobic physical exercise: a randomized controlled trial. Int J Diabetes Dev Ctries 38, 202–208 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-017-0579-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13410-017-0579-9

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