Effect of Aerobic Training on Blood Pressure, HbA1c and Arterial Stiffness in Postmenopausal Women with Type 2 Diabetes

More than 80% of diabetic subjects die of cardiovascular complications. One of the problems in diabetics is vascular arterial stiffness. The aim of present study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks aerobic training on blood pressure, HbA1c and arterial stiffness in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes.
Subjects and Twenty-two diabetic women were randomly divided into the experimental (n=11, age: 51±6.2 yrs, BMI: 32.4±5) or the control (n=11, age: 52.3±5.6 yrs, BMI: 29.4±3.9) groups. The experimental group performed aerobic exercise program for 8 weeks at the intensity of 50–80% of maximum heart rate, 3 sessions per week. Blood samples were taken 24 h before and 48 h after the experimental period. Arterial stiffness evaluation under standard conditions was also performed using VaSera-VS-2000 (Fukuda Denshi Co., Japan).
Intra-group analysis showed that systolic blood pressure, HbA1C, CAVI index significantly decreased in the experimental group. The analysis of covariance also showed a significant difference between groups in CAVI index (P≤0.05).
Overall, aerobic exercise could influence the factors affecting the compliance of vessels as well as factors related to the glycosylation, lowering blood pressure and indicators of arterial stifness (CAVI) and thus can be used as a suitable strategy in this regard.