title: Mild-to-moderate intensity exercise improves cardiac autonomic drive in type 2 diabetes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of moderate aerobic exercise on cardiac autonomic function in type 2 diabetic patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Heart rate variability of 20 patients with type 2 diabetes was assessed. Resting electrocardiogram for the heart rate variability analysis at spontaneous respiration was recorded for 5 min in the supine position before and after 6 months of supervised aerobic training given three times per week.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In time domain measures, the square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent R-R intervals (RMSSD; 29.7 [26-34.5] vs 46.4 [29.8-52.2] ms, P = 0.023) and the percentage of consecutive RR intervals that differ by more than 50 ms (pNN50; 10.7 [5.5-12.7] vs 26.1 [6.6-37.2]%, P = 0.025] were significantly increased after exercise. In frequency domain measures, low frequency (62.4 [59.1-79.2] vs 37 [31.3-43.3] nu, P = 0.003) and low frequency/high frequency (1.67 [1.44-3.8] vs 0.58 [0.46-0.59]%, P = 0.009) were significantly decreased, whereas high frequency (95 [67-149] vs 229 [98-427] ms(2), P = 0.006) and high frequency (37.6 [20.8-40.9] vs 63 [56.7-68.7] normalized units, P = 0.003) were significantly increased after exercise. In a Poincaré plot, standard deviation perpendicular to the line of the Poincaré plot (SD1; 21.3 [18.5-24.8]-33.1 [21.5-37.2] ms, P = 0.027) was significantly increased after exercise.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data suggest that three times per week moderate intensity aerobic exercise for 6 months improves cardiac rhythm regulation as measured by heart rate variability in type 2 diabetic patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Nepalgunj Medical College Banke, Nepal.
authors.forename: Rajesh Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Goit
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences Dharan, Nepal.
authors.forename: Bishnu Hari
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Paudel
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences Dharan, Nepal.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khadka
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Nepalgunj Medical College Banke, Nepal.
authors.forename: Roshan Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Nepalgunj Medical College Banke, Nepal.
authors.forename: Mukesh Kumar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Shrewastwa
keywords: Aerobic exercise; Heart rate variability; Type 2 diabetes