Post-acute exercise cardiovagal modulation in older male adults with and without type 2 diabetes

Purpose We examined heart rate variability (HRV) and baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) disease- and age-related response at 10-and 60-min after an acute high-intensity interval (HIIE) and moderate continuous exercise (MICE) in older adults with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and healthy young adults. Methods Twelve older male adults with (57–84 years) and without T2DM (57–76 years) and 12 healthy young male adults (20–40 years) completed an isocaloric acute bout of HIIE, MICE, and a non-exercise condition in a randomized order. Time and Wavelets-derived frequency domain indices of HRV and BRS were obtained in a supine position and offline over 2-min time-bins using Matlab. Results HIIE but not MICE reduced natural logarithm root mean square of successive differences (Ln-RMSSD) ( d = − 0.85; 95% CI − 1.15 to − 0.55 ms, p