Effects of Combined Training on Progranulin, Glycosylated Hemoglobin, and Insulin Resistance in Overweight and Obese Women with Type 2 Diabetes

Progranulin (PGRN) has been recently introduced as a new indicator of chronic inflammatory response in type 2 diabetes. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of combined training on serum levels of progranulin, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), and insulin resistance in overweight and obese women with type 2 diabetes.

A total of 36 women were divided into three groups: control, combined exercise 1 (combined aerobic-resistance training), and combined exercise 2 (combined resistance-aerobic exercise training, including aerobic exercises with an intensity of 80% to 95% of maximum heart rate and resistance training with an intensity of 60% to 85% of one-repetition maximum). Anthropometric indices, muscle strength, aerobic capacity, variations of PGRN, HbA1c, and insulin resistance were also measured before and after training. To analyze the data, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used, and the level of statistical significance was set at <0.05.

The main and interaction effects of training on PGRN, HbA1c, insulin resistance, muscle strength, and aerobic capacity were significant over time (P=0.001). Despite improvements in PGRN, HbA1c, insulin resistance, lower-body muscle strength, and aerobic capacity in the training groups, no significant difference was observed between the combined training groups and the control group (P<0.05). However, the upper-body muscle strength significantly increased in both combined training groups, compared to the control group (P=0.001).

The use of combined exercise training in different orders for 12 weeks did not have any significant effects on the PGRN, HbAc1, insulin resistance, and functional factors.