European journal of applied physiology
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Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. · Mar 2014
Life-long physical activity restores metabolic and cardiovascular function in type 2 diabetes.
Short-to-moderate duration exercise training improves fitness and lowers cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetes (T2DM). However, the impact of long-term compliance to an active lifestyle of T2DM patients on cardiovascular risk factors has never been studied but could provide information on the maximal achievable health effect of physical activity in T2DM. This study examined the impact of a life-long active lifestyle by comparing physical fitness, cardiovascular risk and vascular function between long-term physically active T2DM patients versus sedentary T2DM patients and controls. ⋯ Life-long active T2DM patients have superior fitness levels, HOMA-IR, cardiovascular risk and FMD compared to sedentary peers, whilst no differences were found when compared to controls. This study provides evidence that a life-long active lifestyle, even in T2DM, may be able to effectively normalize cardiovascular risk.