The Effects of Two Exercise Modalities on Novel Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Overweight Women with Type 2 Diabetes: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of different exercise modalities (short sprint interval training (SIT) and combined aerobic + resistance training (A+R)) on novel cardiovascular risk factors (lipid accumulation product (LAP), Framingham risk score (FRS), atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), the metabolic syndrome severity scores (Mets score), visceral adipose index (VAI), body adipose index (BAI), triglyceride-glucose index (TyG index), triglyceride glucose-waist circumference (TyG-WC), triglyceride glucose-waist circumference (TyG-BMI), HOMA β-cell, and estimated glucose disposal rate (eGDR)) in overweight women with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Fifty-two overweight females with type 2 diabetes (T2D) (aged 45-60 years, BMI > 30, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) ≥ 6.5 %) were assigned to either SIT (n = 17), combined training (n = 17), or control groups (n = 18). Intervention consisted of SIT or combined aerobic-strength training for 10 weeks. Results: There were no significant changes in Mets in the SIT group after 10 weeks (p = 0.187). In addition, there were significant changes (improvements) in LAP (p < 0.001) and VAI (p = 0.002), FRS (p = 0.001), TyG index (p = 0.005), TyG-BMI (p = 0.012), TyG-WC (p < 0.001), AIP (p < 0.001), and eGDR (p = 0.001) in the combined training group after 10weeks, as compared to the baseline. Conclusions: The results highlight that exercise training independent of the mode of training could be an effective strategy to improve some novel cardiovascular risk factors in women with type 2 diabetes.