Objectively assessed physical activity, adiposity, and inflammatory markers in people with type 2 diabetes

Objective: Inflammatory processes may play an important role in the development of acute coronary syndromes in people with type 2 diabetes; thus, strategies to control inflammation are of clinical importance. We examined the cross-sectional association between objectively assessed physical activity and inflammatory markers in a sample of people with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Participants were 71 men and 41 women (mean age= 63.9 +/- 7 years), without a history of cardiovascular disease, drawn from primary care clinics. Physical activity was objectively measured using waist-worn accelerometers (Actigraph GT3X) during waking hours for seven consecutive days. Results: We observed inverse associations between moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (per 10 min) with plasma interleukin-6 (B=-0.035, 95% CI -0.056 to -0.015), interleukin-1ra (B=-0.033, 95% CI -0.051 to -0.015), and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (B=-0.011, 95% CI -0.021 to 0.000). These associations largely persisted in multivariable adjusted models, although body mass index considerably attenuated the effect estimate. Conclusions: These data demonstrate an inverse association between physical activity and inflammatory markers in people with type 2 diabetes.