Physical Activity and Diabetes Complications in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes

Physical activity exerts numerous beneficial health effects, and the evidence favoring a physically active lifestyle in the treatment of chronic diseases is substantial (1). For patients with diabetes, physical activity is considered important (2). In theory, regular physical activity may prevent diabetes complications through beneficial effects on glycemic control, insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, lipid profile, and endothelial function. However, physical activity could also cause adverse effects or patients may not be able to exercise due to complications. Little, however, is known about the relationship between physical activity and diabetes complications (3). Therefore, we investigated the associations between physical activity and microvascular and macrovascular diabetic complications in a large cohort of patients with type 1 diabetes from the Finnish Diabetic Nephropathy (FinnDiane) Study. The FinnDiane Study and the assessment of self-reported leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) by a questionnaire have previously been described (4). This is a cross-sectional analysis of 1,945 patients with data on LTPA. Renal status was based on at least three urine collections. Renal function was evaluated by the Cockcroft-Gault formula (5) for estimated creatinine clearance. Data on retinopathy and cardiovascular disease (CVD) were obtained from medical records. Differences between groups were …