Association of physical activity with insulin resistance, subclinical inflammation, coagulation, and fibrinolytic biomarkers among population at high risk for type 2 diabetes.

OBJECTIVE

TO investigate the association of physical activity with insulin resistance and biomarkers of inflammation, coagulation, and fibrinolysis in a population at high risk for type 2 diabetes.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A total of 778 subjects from the Risk factors in Impaired Glucose Tolerance for Atherosclerosis and Diabetes (RIAD) study aged 40-70 years were included in the present cross-sectional analysis.

RESULTS

Participants classified as having low physical activity (PA) were more insulin resistant in comparison to participants with medium (P = 0.042) and high PA (P = 0.015). Individuals with high physical activity had a significantly lower leucocytes count than individuals with low PA (P = 0.027) and significantly lower hs-CRP and fibrinogen concentrations than individuals with medium (P = 0.011 and P = 0.021) and low physical activity (P = 0.04 and P = 0.007). Although a trend towards a decrease in plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) levels with increasing physical activity was present, significant differences were observed only between subjects with high and medium physical activity (P = 0.045 and P = 0.033). In multivariate regression analyses physical activity was an independent determinant of insulin resistance, leucocytes count, hs-CRP, and fibrinogen concentrations.

CONCLUSIONS

Physical activity was independently associated with insulin resistance and biomarkers of inflammation, whereas only a tendency towards decreased concentrations of coagulation and fibrinolytic biomarkers with increasing physical activity was observed.