The blood pressure response to exercise in youth with impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with hypertension, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. In adults, blood pressure (BP) responses to exercise are predictive of these complications. To determine if the hemodynamic response to exercise is exaggerated in youth with dysglycemia (T2D/impaired glucose tolerance-DG) compared to normoglycemic overweight/obese (OB) and healthy weight (HW) controls a cross-sectional comparison of BP and heart rate (HR) responses to graded exercise to exhaustion in 13-18 year old DG, OB, and HW participants was performed. DG and OB youth were matched for age, BMI z-score, height and sex. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) were measured every two minutes. HR was measured every minute. SBP was higher in OB and DG compared to HW youth at rest (p<0.001). Despite working at lower relative workloads compared to HW, the BP response was elevated during exercise in OB and DG. For similar HR and oxygen consumption rates, BP responses to exercise were slightly higher in OB and DG compared to HW. OB and DG youth both display elevated resting and exercise BP relative to HW peers. Obesity may play a greater role than dysglycemia in the BP response to exercise in youth.