Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Apr 15, 2015; 6(3): 534-542
Published online Apr 15, 2015. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v6.i3.534
Effect of aerobic and anaerobic exercises on glycemic control in type 1 diabetic youths
Andrea Lukács, László Barkai
Andrea Lukács, László Barkai, Faculty of Health Care, University of Miskolc, 3515 Miskolc-Egyetemváros, Hungary
László Barkai, Velkey László Center for Child Health, 3501 Miskolc, Hungary
Author contributions: Both authors contributed to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest: No conflict of interest stated by any authors.
Data sharing: This manuscript does not describe basic or clinical research, therefore data sharing statement is not relevant.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: László Barkai, MD, PhD, DSc, Faculty of Health Care, University of Miskolc, 3515 Miskolc-Egyetemváros, Hungary. barkai.l@t-online.hu
Telephone: +36-46-565111 Fax: +36-46-366961
Received: July 29, 2014
Peer-review started: July 30, 2014
First decision: October 14, 2014
Revised: January 2, 2015
Accepted: January 15, 2015
Article in press: January 19, 2015
Published online: April 15, 2015
Processing time: 264 Days and 16.5 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To evaluate the long-term effect of aerobic and/or anaerobic exercise on glycemic control in youths with type 1 diabetes.

METHODS: Literature review was performed in spring and summer 2014 using PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, Scopus, and ScienceDirect with the following terms: aerobic, anaerobic, high-intensity, resistance, exercise/training, combined with glycemic/metabolic control, glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and type 1 diabetes. Only peer-reviewed articles in English were included published in the last 15 years. It was selected from 1999 to 2014. Glycemic control was measured with HbA1c. Studies with an intervention lasting at least 12 wk were included if the HbA1c was measured before and after the intervention.

RESULTS: A total of nine articles were found, and they were published between the years of 2002-2011. The sample size was 401 diabetic youths (166 males and 235 females) with an age range of 10-19 years except one study, in which the age range was 13-30 years. Study participants were from Australia, Tunisia, Lithuania, Taiwan, Turkey, Brazilia, Belgium, Egypt and France. Four studies were aerobic-based, four were combined aerobic and anaerobic programs, and one compared aerobic exercise to anaerobic one. Available studies had insufficient evidence that any type of exercise or combined training would clearly improve the glycemic control in type 1 diabetic youth. Only three (two aerobic-based and one combined) studies could provide a significant positive change in glycemic control.

CONCLUSION: The regular physical exercise has several other valuable physiological and health benefits that justify the inclusion of exercise in pediatric diabetes treatment and care.

Keywords: Type 1 diabetes mellitus; Glycemic control; Exercise; Aerobic; Anaerobic

Core tip: Diabetic patients should be aware that exercise interferes with the glucose homeostasis. Anaerobic exercise can increase glycemia, whereas the aerobic exercise may cause a decrease during the exercise and post-exercise. By evaluating the long-term effect of exercise on glycemic control in type 1 diabetic youths according to the major metabolic pathway involved in energy utilization (aerobic or anaerobic), we found insufficient evidence in the latest literature that any type of exercise or combined aerobic and anaerobic training would clearly improve the glycemic control. The regular physical exercise has several other valuable benefits that justify the inclusion of exercise in pediatric diabetes treatment and care.