Determinants of Exercise Capacity in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

OBJECTIVE—Type 2 diabetes is associated with reduced exercise capacity, but the cause of this association is unclear. We sought the associations of impaired exercise capacity in type 2 diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—Subclinical left ventricular (LV) dysfunction was sought from myocardial strain rate and the basal segmental diastolic velocity (Em) of each wall in 170 patients with type 2 diabetes (aged 56 ± 10 years, 91 men), good quality echocardiographic images, and negative exercise echocardiograms. The same measurements were made in 56 control subjects (aged 53 ± 10 years, 29 men). Exercise capacity was calculated in metabolic equivalents, and heart rate recovery (HRR) was measured as the heart rate difference between peak and 1 min after exercise. In subjects with type 2 diabetes, exercise capacity was correlated with clinical, therapeutic, biochemical, and echocardiographic variables, and significant independent associations were sought using a multiple linear regression model.

RESULTS—Exercise capacity, strain rate, Em, and HRR were significantly reduced in type 2 diabetes. Exercise capacity was associated with age (r = −0.37, P < 0.001), male sex (r = 0.26, P = 0.001), BMI (r = −0.19, P = 0.012), HbA_1c (A1C; r = −0.22, P = 0.009), Em (r = 0.43, P < 0.001), HRR (r = 0.42, P < 0.001), diabetes duration (r = −0.18, P = 0.021), and hypertension history (r = −0.28, P < 0.001). Age (P < 0.001), male sex (P = 0.007), BMI (P = 0.001), Em (P = 0.032), HRR (P = 0.013), and A1C (P = 0.0007) were independent predictors of exercise capacity.

CONCLUSIONS—Reduced exercise capacity in patients with type 2 diabetes is associated with diabetes control, subclinical LV dysfunction, and impaired HRR.