The effects of intermittent hypoxia on plasma adiponectin level in obese people with type II diabetes

Adiponectin is a hormone that plays an important role in diet-induced insulin resistance. People with higher weight have a lower adiponectin levels and are more susceptible to type II diabetes. Studies have shown that exposure to altitude and hypoxic environment causes weight loss. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of intermittent hypoxia on adiponectin level and BMI in obese people with type II diabetes. Ten obese subjects with type II diabetes participate in the study with mean BMI of 32.02 ± 2.47 and age range of 50-70 years old. The intervention consisted of 14 sessions of intermittent hypoxia, one hour per day for 14 consecutive days. Plasma adiponectin and BMI were measured three times (pretest, day 7, and posttest) and two times (pre- and post-tests). Plasma adiponectin showed a non-significant 2.1% reduction, 6 days after intermittent hypoxia intervention (day 7) (t9= 1.06; p=0.317). Also, in fifteenth day or after 14 days of intermittent hypoxia intervention, plasma adiponectin levels had a 5% non-significant reduction compared to the pretest (t9= 0.578; p=0.577). The results of present study also showed that short-term (7 days) and medium term (14 days) exposure to intermittent hypoxia had no effect on BMI (p> 0.05).Discussion & Findings of present study indicate that performing 6 and 14 one-hour sessions of intermittent hypoxia in consecutive days cause no significant effect in plasma adiponectin and BMI of obese people with type II diabetes.