Effect of 9 weeks of aerobic training on serum visfatin level and insulin resistance index in obese women

Abstract Visfatin is a newly discovered adipokine which increases with obesity. It is not clear whether endurance training which induces changes in adipose tissue and blood lipids might decrease the plasma level of visfatin as well. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 9 weeks of aerobic training on serum visfatin level and insulin resistance index in obese women. Method of research was semiexperimental. Twenty-eight obese female volunteered and were randomly divided into experimental (14 subjects with means of weight 82 ± 10. 2 kg، and BMI 34. 2 ± 4. 3 kg/m2) and control (14 subjects with means of weight 79. 9 ± 9. 5 kg، and BMI 34 ± 3. 9 kg/m2) groups. Aerobic training protocol consisted of 4 sessions per week for 9 weeks. Each training session was a slow running trial at intensity of 65 to 75 percent of maximal heart rate for a period of 15 minutes. To follow the principle of overload، half-a-minute was added to each session after the second week، so that، at the last session the running time reached to 31 minutes. Before and after the training period، blood sampling was performed. Data were analyzed using independent t test and ANCOVA. Results showed significant reduction of serum visfatin level (p < 0. 05)، and no significant difference in insulin resistance index، serum HDL، LDL، TC and TG between the control and experimental groups (p > 0. 05). In addition، aerobic training reduced significantly body mass index، body weight، waist to hip ratio، body fat percent، and increased significantly maximum oxygen uptake (p < 0. 05). It can be said that 9 weeks of aerobic training can cause significant reduction of serum visfatin and no significant change in insulin resistance index in obese women.