Effects of Aerobic Exercise Intensity on Insulin Resistance in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: Exercise offers protection against atherosclerosis and insulin resistance. We evaluated the benefits of exercise at different levels of intensity for ameliorating inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and insulin resistance in a sample of type 2 diabetic subjects. Methods: Fifty-nine overweight women with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to control (CG, N = 18), moderate-intensity exercise (MEG, N = 17), and vigorous-in tensity exercise (VEG, N = 14) groups. Patients in the two experimental groups completed a 12-week exercise program, with their exercise activities monitored by accelerometers. We assessed the patients' body weights, total abdominal fat (TF), subcutaneous fat (SF) and visceral fat (VF) via computed tomography, measurements of plasma levels of hs-C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), assessment of endothelial function by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD), and evaluation of insulin sensitivity by insulin tolerance tests, at baseline, at the end of the 12-week interventions, and one year after initiation of the study. Results: At baseline, the average age of all subjects was 54 ± 7 years, and average body mass index (BMI) was 26.9 ± 2.5 kg/m 2 . During the intervention, patients in the MEG and VEG groups expended comparable