Ergometric heart rate, blood pressure and work capacity (PWC170) in type I diabetics with diabetes-specific microangiopathy.
118 male and 68 female type I diabetics and 25 male and 23 female nondiabetic healthy controls were compared during submaximal bicycle ergometer tests using four work stages (duration: 6 min each) of 50 W, 75 W, 100 W and a submaximal stage producing a heart rate of 170 min-1. We found that male type I diabetics with and without retinopathy who had significantly higher than normal heart rates both at the start and during the ergometer test also had above normal ergometric blood pressures. Female type I diabetics, in contrast, did not differ significantly from the controls in terms of heart rate before and during the ergometer tests. The PWC170 of all male type I diabetics was, in contrast to that of the female patients, lower than that of the controls. In diabetics with diabetic nephropathy there was no correlation between exercised acceleration of the heart rate and the degree of nephropathy despite their higher heart rates at the beginning and during the ergometer test, but a correlation was found between the ergometrically increased blood pressure and the severity of the diabetic nephropathy. In male type I diabetics cardiocirculatory adaptation to muscular work was reduced, and this reduction became more marked as the degree of diabetic microangiopathy increased. Compared with the controls, the increase in systolic blood pressure evoked by activity on the ergometer in male and female type I diabetics was disproportionate to the actual load and correlated with the degree of diabetic microangiopathy.
D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003925:Diabetic Angiopathies / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000503:physiopathology; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000503:physiopathology; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010807:Physical Endurance