Relationship Between Heart Rate Recovery After Exercise and Maximal Oxygen Uptake in Sedentary Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

AIMS: Heart rate recovery after exercise (HRR) is an estimate of autonomic modulation of the heart, and has been shown to be inversely associated with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is associated with decreased maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max). Aim of our study was to assess the relationship between HRR and VO2max in sedentary patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Maximal exercise testing to determine VO2max (ml ∙ Kg-1 ∙ min-1) was performed in 16 sedentary patients with type 2 diabetes (DP) and in 16 age-matched sedentary healthy controls (HS). HRR (bpm) 2 min after cessation of the exercise was recorded. Simple linear regression was used to assess the relations between HRR and VO2max. RESULTS: VO2max and HRR were significantly lower in DP compared to HS (P = 0.002 and P = 0.008 respectively). A correlation between HRR and VO2max has been found, stronger in DP (r = 0.672, P = 0.004) than HS (r = 0.620, P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that regular physical activity aimed to improve the levels of VO2max in subjects with diabetes may improve the HRR and reduce the risk of cardiovascular events.