Concurrent training improves the body composition of elderly type 2 diabetic patients treated with insulin

Problem Statement: Different drug therapies like insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents help maintain normal glycemic levels and avoid clinical complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). Concurrent training (CT - aerobic plus resistance training) is a nonpharmacological tool for T2D treatment that decreases body fat, increases lean body mass, and improves functional capacity. However, it is unknown whether the positive alterations on body composition and cardiometabolic parameters induced by CT occur in different magnitudes for those with T2D who are treated with insulin or not as drug therapy. Purpose: to evaluate the effects of 12 weeks of CT on the body composition of elderly individuals with T2D treated with insulin or not. Approach: Sixteen subjects (age, 65 ± 7 years; T2D length, 11 ± 7 years) were divided into two groups: insulin-treated (IT; n = 9) and noninsulin-treated (NIT; n = 7), who participated in the same incremental-load CT protocol. Results: CT decreased fat body mass (30.5 ± 3.8 kg post-training vs. 32.5 ± 4.5 kg pretraining; p < 0.01; effect size (d) = 0.47) and increased lean body mass (45.6 ± 5.5 kg post-training vs. 43.7 ± 4.4 kg pretraining; p < 0.01; d = 0.4) only in the IT group. CT increased muscle strength (IT: d = 1.71; NIT: d = 1.48; p < 0.05) and the distance traveled during the 6-minute walk test (IT: 519 ± 43 m post-training vs. 499 ± 45 m pretraining, p < 0.05; NIT: 546 ± 94 m post-training vs. 488 ± 58 m pretraining, p < 0.05) for both groups. Conclusion: CT leads to positive body compositions for those with T2D treated with insulin.