Abstract: The risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is many times higher among people with diabetes. Presence of diabetes increases the risks of heart attacks and strokes in people up to 2 to 6 times. There are a lot of inflammatory markers predicting cardiovascular heart diseases, including homocysteine, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs- CRP) and fibrinogen. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 8 weeks of aerobic exercise on blood levels of inflammatory markers in diabetic women. Methods: Subjects consisted of thirty sedentary middle-aged women with diabetes who were randomly assigned to two groups of experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. The program included eight weeks of aerobic exercise training (3 sessions per week, 60 minutes per session) with the intensity of 50 to 75 percent of maximal oxygen consumption. Homocysteine levels and hs-CRP and fibrinogen of blood were measured before and after exercise. Findings: Independent samples t-test analysis indicated a significant decrease in levels of homocysteine, hs-CRP and plasma fibrinogen in experimental group (P <0/05), but no significant change has been observed in control group. Conclusion: Thus, in general, regular aerobic training reduces the risk of stroke and improves health of diabetic middle-aged women by lowering homocysteine, fibrinogen and hs-CRP. [Seyed Mahmoud Hejazi, Amir Rashidlamir, Atiyeh Jebelli, Salehe Nornematolahi, Seyed Majid Ghazavi, Mahmoud Soltani.

Keywords