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Normal physical working capacity in prepubertal children with type 1 diabetes compared with healthy controls
Author(s) -
Heyman Elsa,
Briard David,
GratasDelamarche Arlette,
Delamarche Paul,
Kerdanet Marc
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2005.tb01809.x
Subject(s) - medicine , physical fitness , aerobic exercise , diabetes mellitus , aerobic capacity , energy expenditure , physical exercise , physical therapy , endocrinology
Background: Exercise testing has become a valuable help for the physician to examine the influence of recommended exercise training on physical fitness. However, the question as to how diabetic prepubertal children differ from their non‐diabetic peers in their performance capacity has only partial and sometimes conflicting answers in the literature. Aim and methods: The aim of the current study was thus to evaluate aerobic fitness during an incremental submaximal test (measure of the Physical Working Capacity 170 (PWC 170 )) in 17 well‐controlled prepubertal insulin‐dependent diabetic boys aged 8.5–13 y. Eighteen healthy prepubertal boys matched for age, body size and physical activity served as controls. Part of the method was to check capillary blood glucose level in the diabetic patients and in nine of the healthy subjects throughout the exercise. Results: From this experiment it appeared that the level of physical fitness was similar in diabetic and healthy boys (PWC 170 2.28±0.09 vs 2.37±0.13 W·kg −1 ). While glucose homeostasis was well maintained in the healthy group, diabetic children showed a marked fall in blood glucose during the exercise. In addition, the PWC 170 level correlated significantly with the estimate of energy expenditure attributed to vigorous activities in the diabetic boys. Conclusion: By studying the responses to incremental exercise there is growing evidence that normal physical fitness is preserved in diabetic prepubertal boys given appropriate involvement in physical activity.