Acute effect of aerobic and resistance exercise on glycemia in individuals with type 2 diabetes: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is the most prevalent in the world population, and exercise is one of the main non-pharmacological interventions to treat this health condition.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a single session of aerobic exercise (AE) and/or resistance exercise (RE) on post-exercise glycemia in individuals with T2D.

Methods: A literature search was conducted in CINAHL, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Google Scholar, LILACS, MEDLINE/Ovid, SciELO, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science up to May 2024, randomized and non-randomized clinical trials were included. The risk of bias and the certainty of evidence were assessed using the Cochrane "Risk of Bias" and GRADE tools, respectively.

Results: Initially, 7210 studies were identified, 26 were included in the systematic review, and 13 in the meta-analysis. A single session of continuous AE (CAE), interval AE (IAE), or RE promoted a significant reduction in glycemia in the first minute after exercise (-1.48 mmol/L [95 % CI:-1.73, -1.23]; -2.66 mmol/L [95 % CI:-3.48, -1.84]; -1.18 mmol/L [95 % CI:-2.15, -0.21], respectively), compared to the control session. This reduction persisted for up to 10 min after the CAE session (-1.61 mmol/L [95 % CI:-2.21, -1.01]) and up to 30 min after the IAE session (-1.11 mmol/L [95 % CI:-1.88, -0.35]). The risk of bias was assessed as uncertain, and the quality of the evidence was moderate.

Conclusion: CAE and IAE reduces glycemia for a period of up to 10 or 30 min after its completion, respectively, while a single session of RE reduces glycemia only in the first-minute post-exercise in individuals with T2D.