How does physical activity and fitness influence glycaemic control in young people with Type 1 diabetes?

Abstract

Aims: To assess physical activity and fitness levels of young people with Type 1 diabetes compared with siblings without diabetes, and to investigate the association between physical activity, physical fitness and glycaemic control (HbA(1c)) in those young people with diabetes.

Methods: The study consisted of 97 young people aged 8 to 16 years (62% male) from a Paediatric Diabetes Service in South West England. Sixty participants (67% male) had Type 1 diabetes and 37 participants (54% male) were siblings without diabetes (control group). We measured weight, height and waist circumference, calculated BMI and waist-height ratio and recorded pubertal status, blood pressure and current insulin regimen information. We assessed physical activity by accelerometry, from which we calculated light and moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity. We measured physical fitness by multistage sub-maximal bicycle ergometer test. We obtained HbA(1c) by venipuncture.

Results: There were no differences between the young people with diabetes and siblings without diabetes in body composition, blood pressure, physical activity and fitness. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with better glycaemic control, accounting for 30-37% (R(2) = 0.295-0.374) of the variance for HbA(1c). Physical fitness was not associated with HbA(1c).

Conclusions: Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with better glycaemic control while fitness was not. Findings suggest that developing strategies to increased moderate-to-vigorous physical activity may prove an effective method of improving glycaemic control in young people with diabetes.