Effect of Aerobic Exercise on Blood Pressure of Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background: Hypertension is one of the prevalent and dangerous complications of diabetes\rmellitus. As it is difficult to control hypertension, the necessity of using new techniques such\ras non-pharmaceutical methods and complementary therapy increased. This study aimed to\rdetermine the effect of aerobic exercise on the blood pressure of patients with type 2 diabetes.\rMethods: This study was a quasi-experimental randomized trial conducted on 67 volunteered\rpatients with type 2 diabetes. The participants were randomly assigned to aerobic exercise\r(n=33) and control (n=34) groups. The exercise group walked 30 minutes, 3 days a week for 8\rconsecutive weeks. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure of the samples were measured before\rand after the intervention. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, the Kolmogorov-\rSmirnov test, paired t test, Independent t test, and Chi-square test using SPSS (v. 16). P value less\rthan 0.05 was considered significant.\rResults: The difference between the systolic and diastolic blood pressure of the groups before\rthe intervention was not significant (P>0.05). After the intervention, there was no significant\rdifference in terms of systolic and diastolic blood pressure of the exercise group compared with\rthe baseline (P>0.05). No significant difference was determined between groups in terms of\rsystolic and diastolic blood pressure after the intervention (P>0.05).\rConclusion: According to the findings, 8 weeks of aerobic exercise (walking) did not reduce\rsystolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes.