Increase in Adiposity of Type 2 Diabetes Patients following Withdrawal from Therapeutic Exercise

In order to achieve optimum health status, Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) patients are usually encouraged to undergo regular and consistent therapeutic exercises. This study investigated whether the gains of exercises on adiposity variables of T2D patients are maintained within a few weeks of withdrawal from exercise and whether it was significantly related to the age of the patient and the duration of diagnosis of T2D. Forty-three T2D patients aged between 30 and 64 years were recruited for this study. They were placed on a combination of endurance and strengthening exercises for 12 weeks. The participants were thereafter observed for another 12 weeks without exercises. The adiposity variables measured in both phases of the study include: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-hip-ratio (WHR) and percent-body-fat (PBF). Significant improvements (P less than 0.05) for all the variables were achieved after 12 weeks of therapeutic exercises. The variables, however, showed significant relapses (P less than 0.05) within six weeks of withdrawal of exercise and these were significantly related (P less than 0.05) to both the age of the patient and the duration of diagnosis. The endurance and strengthening exercises improved the adiposity variables of theT2D patients, but the gains began to decline within six weeks of withdrawal from the exercises. The increase in adiposity was more as the age and duration of diagnosis of the patients increased. KEY WORDS: weight maintenance, body composition, diabetes mellitus