Type 2 diabetes in youth: A phenotype of poor cardiorespiratory fitness and low physical activity

Abstract

Objective-The increased incidence of obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D) among youth has prompted the development of guidelines for healthy cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and physical activity (PA) levels in the pediatric population. It is unclear whether youth with T2D meet these guidelines as previous research has not included type 2 diabetics. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to examine CRF and PA in youth with T2D and compare these results with recently published normative data for CRF and guidelines for PA in youth.Methods-Forty adolescents (17 males and 23 females) with T2D were assessed for moderateto-vigorous PA via the 7-day PA recall. CRF was determined by a progressive cycle ergometer test and indirect calorimetry. PA levels were compared with recently published guidelines for youth of 60 minutes per day, and CRF data were compared with age-and sex-adjusted normative values from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2002.Results-Only 17.6% (3/17) of boys and 21.7% (5/23) of girls met PA guidelines, while none of the participants met criteria for healthy CRF. When compared with normative CRF data for US youth, ~93% of boys and 95% of girls scored below the 10th percentile.Conclusions-These results suggest that youth with T2D exhibit low levels of CRF and the majority do not participate in recommended amounts of PA. Practitioners working with type 2 diabetic youth need to emphasize the importance of regular PA to increase CRF and promote cardiovascular health in an effort to decrease long-term diabetes-related complications.

Sprint interval training (SIT) is an effective method to maintain cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and glucose homeostasis in Scottish adolescents

“…Physical inactivity, low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) [ 1 ] and sedentary behaviour, particularly sitting hours [ 2 ] are primary causal risk factors in the pathogenesis of metabolic disorders amongst children and adolescents. In contrast to the school environment, adolescents are known to self-select higher levels of physical activity throughout a summer vacation [ 3 ].…”

Physical activity and cardiometabolic health in adolescents with type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study

“… 6 Current clinical practice guidelines recommend regular daily physical activity for adolescents living with type 2 diabetes. 7–9 Despite these recommendations, our group 10 and others 11 12 demonstrated that adolescents with type 2 diabetes achieve less daily physical activity than their peers without type 2 diabetes. Adolescents without diabetes who engage in regular daily physical activity, 13 particularly vigorous-intensity physical activity, 14 15 display better cardiometabolic profiles compared with adolescents who do not.…”

Patterns of Physical Activity Adherence by Adolescents With Diabetes or Obesity Enrolled in a Personalized Community-Based Intervention

“…8 Furthermore, these low levels of physical activity result in a greater challenge down the road as physical activity is reported to decline from childhood into adolescence. [6][7][8][9][10] The youth most vulnerable to the decline in physical activity tend to be female [9][10][11][12][13][14] or those with obesity or diabetes, [14][15][16][17][18][19] and they are most physically inactive during weekends and outside of school. 13,20 Despite the design and implementation of eloquent physical activity programs aimed at improving and sustaining physical activity adherence, incorporating physical activity as a consistent lifestyle behavior has proven difficult for both youth and adults.…”