Cardiorespiratory responses during aquatic treadmill exercise and land treadmill exercise in older adults with type 2 diabetes

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of aquatic treadmill exercise (ATM) to land treadmill exercise (LTM) in adults with and without type 2 diabetes (T2D). Five participants with T2D (4 females, 1 male; age=51±3 years; height=170±3 cm; weight=96±11 kg; body fat=32±1%) and five participants without T2D (4 females, 1 male; age=51±3 years; height=170±3 cm; weight=71±15 kg; body fat=27±2%) completed the study. Participants completed three, 5-minute stages of exercise at 3.2 km/h, 4.8 km/h and 6.4 km/h with 0% grade on land and aquatic treadmills. Heart rate (HR), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), absolute and relative oxygen consumption (VO2), and energy expenditure were measured at rest and during steady-state exercise at each intensity. A 2x2x4 Mixed Factorial ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc test with a significance level of 0.05 was used. All variables increased as speed increased (P