Cardiovascular Parameters of People with Diabetes Mellitus: An Intervention Study

Cardiovascular diseases are the main chronic complication of diabetes mellitus.The literature shows that educational interventions can promote, among other benefits, the reduction of cardiac risk, especially when they include, in practice, lifestyle changes.The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of an educational program, centered on self-care and concurrent physical training, on the cardiovascular parameters of 15 people with type 2 diabetes mellitus.There was a higher frequency of elderly, female, low educational level, a diagnosis time less than 10 years and the use of oral antidiabetics.For heart rate, the results indicated presence of satisfactory variability.A reduction in mean values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p <0.0001) was observed, suggesting an improvement in ventricular strength and the capacity of peripheral vasodilation.It is concluded that the proposed educational program, by including the regular and well-oriented practice of concurrent physical exercise, contributed to self-care and improvement of cardiovascular parameters, since the same physical effort resulted in lower cardiac stress due to inducing cardiovascular physiological adaptations and muscular.