Blood pressure and vascular responses during exercise in offspring of diabetes parents: The role of the muscle metaboreflex

Abstract Background This study aimed to compare blood pressure and vascular responses during isometric handgrip exercise and muscle metaboreflex activation in the offspring of parents with type 2 diabetes and individuals without a family history of diabetes. Methods The sample consisted of a family history of type 2 diabetes parents ( n = 12; 30.92 ± 4.87 years) and those without a family history of diabetes ( n = 12; 28.42 ± 5.43 years). Blood pressure (Dixtal®), heart rate (ECG‐Dixtal®) and muscle blood flow (Hokanson®) were recorded for 3 min at baseline and 3 min during isometric handgrip exercise (Saehan®). Immediately after the exercise, circulatory occlusion was performed for 2 min to assess muscle metaboreflex activation. Additionally, the vascular conductance was calculated. A two‐factor repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted to test for possible differences between the groups for all variables under baseline conditions and during isometric handgrip exercise and to analyse the muscle metaboreflex activation. A significance level of p < 0.05 was adopted. Results Blood pressure, heart rate, muscle blood flow and vascular conductance showed similar baseline values in both groups, with significant and similar increases during the isometric handgrip exercise. Furthermore, for muscle metaboreflex activation, the systolic, diastolic and mean blood pressure values were significantly and similarly increased compared with baseline in both groups. Conclusions The blood pressure and vascular responses during isometric handgrip exercise, as well as the muscle metaboreflex activation of blood pressure, are preserved in the offspring of parents with type 2 diabetes compared to those without a family history of diabetes.