The Blood Pressure Response to Exercise in Youth with Impaired Glucose Tolerance and Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes 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 (DG) compared with 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 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 2 min, and HR was measured every 1 min. SBP was higher in OB and DG compared with HW youth at rest (p < .001). Despite working at lower relative workloads compared with 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 with 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 exaggerated BP response to exercise in youth.