Acute effect of healthy walking on arterial stiffness in patients with type 2 diabetes and differences by age and sex: a pre-post intervention study

BACKGROUND: Daily aerobic exercise such as healthy walking could have an immediate effect on parameters of arterial stiffness; however, there is little evidence in the diabetic population. Our aim, therefore, is to evaluate the association between healthy walking and acute effects on the parameters of arterial stiffness in subjects with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: The Effectiveness of a multifactorial intervention in diabetics study (EMID), is a study based on an application for smartphones, healthy walking and a nutritional workshop in patients with type 2 diabetes in primary care, is a randomized controlled trial of two parallel groups. This is a subanalysis of the intervention group to evaluate the response to the healthy walking according to age and sex, in 89 subjects with type 2 diabetes, aged between 40 and 70 years. The intervention was a 4 km of a healthy walking at low-moderate intensity. To value our aim, the main study variables were measured before and after it. RESULTS: The study population had an average age of 65.0 years (61.2–68.1). After the healthy walking, there was a decrease in the parameters of arterial stiffness: Cardio ankle vascular index (CAVI) of − 0.2 (95%CI:-0.4 to − 0.1) and pulse pressure (PP) of the lower extremities of − 3.9 mmHg (95%CI: -5.9 to − 2.0). Furthermore, in the lower extremities there was a decrease in systolic blood pressure of − 5.3 mmHg (95% CI: -7.3 mmHg to − 3.3 mmHg), in diastolic blood pressure of − 1.5 mmHg (95% CI: -2.6 mmHg to − 0.4 mmHg) (p < 0.05 for all). It is observed that males have an OR of 2.981 (IC = 95% 1.095 to 8.119) to achieve a reduction in the CAVI (p < 0.05) and an OR of 2.433 (95%CI: 0.871 to 6.794) in the ankle PP (p > 0.05), compared with females. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that daily aerobic exercise at a low to moderate intensity, such as healthy walking, has an immediate beneficial effect on the cardio-ankle vascular index, especially in males. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02991079.