Iranian Journal of Rehabilitation Research in Nursing

Introduction: The beneficial effect of exercise on glucose control in type 2 diabetes is associated with several risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to study the effect of two exercise therapy methods on cardiometabolic health of overweight middle-aged females with diabetes mellitus.

Methods: Overall, 52 overweight female type 2 diabetic patients (age; 45-60 years old and fasting blood glucose ≥ 126 mg/dL (7.0 mmol/L)) were assessed for eligibility. Participants were assigned to sprint interval training group (n = 17), concurrent resistance-endurance training group (n = 17) and control group (n = 18). The combined strength-endurance group did 12 weeks, three sessions per week of endurance training at 60% of maximal heart rate and two sessions resistance training at 70% 1-RM. Intense interval training group did three sessions/week of four to ten repetitions during 30 seconds. Wingate on ergometer included 10 weeks of concurrent resistance-endurance training and intense interval training. Fasting glucose, insulin, insulin resistance, high sensitivity-C-Reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, body fat, waist circumference (WC), waist to hip ratio (WHR) and body mass index (BMI) were measured before and after 12 weeks of intensive training and combined resistance-endurance training.

Results: The results showed that following sprint interval training, there were significant changes in hs-CRP (P < 0.001), yet this wasn’t significant following concurrent training (P = 0.062). The results showed that following combined training and sprint interval training, there were no significant changes in body mass index and fat percentage (P > 0.05). In addition, it was shown that following combined training there were significant differences in body mass (P = 0.032) and waist circumference in the combined training (P = 0.000); sprint interval training (P = 0.001) and resting heart rate in the intense training group (P = 0.01); systolic blood pressure in the combined training (P = 0.005); sprint interval training (P = 0.009) and diastole pressure in combined (P = 0.001) and sprint interval training (P = 0.001). Differences were not significant for fasting blood glucose in the sprint interval training groups (P = 0.000). Serum insulin levels showed significant increases in the SIT (P = 0.000) and Com (P = 0.000), significantly. The data showed significant differences in insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) in sprint interval training group (P = 0.000) and concurrent resistance-endurance training (P = 0.008). The data showed no significant difference in fasting blood glucose concentrations (P = 0.171).

Conclusions: Sprint interval training has more effect than combined resistance- endurance training for improving cardiometabolic health and insulin resistance of overweight middle-aged females with diabetes mellitus.