Study finds regular physical activity slows biological aging in type 2 diabetes patients

By Dr. Chinta SidharthanReviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLMNov 5 2024

Consistent exercise linked to reduced phenotypic age acceleration, highlighting the importance of tailored physical activity for healthy aging in type 2 diabetes.

Study: Dose response of leisure time physical activity and biological aging in type 2 diabetes: a cross sectional study. Image Credit: Tint Media/Shutterstock.com

In a recent study published in Scientific Reports, researchers examined how different patterns of physical activity during leisure time impact biological aging in people with type 2 diabetes.

The findings indicated that regular physical activity significantly slowed aging among type 2 diabetes patients, and the optimal benefits were observed just below an average of 594 minutes of weekly physical activity.

Background

Apart from being a risk factor for serious health concerns such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes is also a key factor in accelerating biological aging. Type 2 diabetes intensifies cellular damage through various molecular mechanisms such as telomere shortening, mitochondrial dysfunction, and increased inflammation.

Moreover, pancreatic function, muscle mass, and muscle strength are also observed to decline rapidly in type 2 diabetes patients. Several molecular factors, such as increased damage to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and proteins, are believed to drive this accelerated biological aging.

Lifestyle-associated factors are known to have a strong influence on biological aging, and studies have found that physical activity can significantly slow aging.

Physical activity is believed to have beneficial effects on cellular processes such as lowering oxidative stress and maintaining telomere length, supported by the observations that active individuals had longer telomeres and better telomerase activity.

About the study

In the present cross-sectional study, the researchers examined the impact of various patterns of physical activity during leisure time on biological aging in patients with type 2 diabetes, and the underlying mechanisms of this association.

The study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted between 1999 and 2018 by the United States (U.S.) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which used a multi-stage, stratified sampling approach to ensure a uniformly representative sampling of the U.S. population.

The data was collected through clinical exams and in-home interviews and included information for over 4,000 adults.

Specific clinical criteria, including a diagnosis by a physician, use of diabetes medications, or elevated glucose markers were used to confirm the type 2 diabetes status of the participants.

The global physical activity questionnaire was used to assess the leisure-time physical activity levels, and the responses were used to categorize the participants into four categories, namely, inactive, insufficiently active, ‘weekend warrior’, and highly active based on the duration and intensity of activity.

PhenoAgeAccel, which stands for phenotypic age acceleration, is a measure derived from a linear regression analysis of phenotypic and chronological ages and represents the difference between an individual's chronological age and physiological age. The researchers used PhenoAgeAccel values to estimate biological aging rates.

Numerous covariates, such as lifestyle, demographic, and health factors, including income, age, dietary quality, and smoking status, were included as covariates in the analysis. Health conditions such as hyperlipidemia and hypertension were also included.

The researchers conducted a weighted analysis to generalize the results to the U.S. population. They used statistical tests such as the chi-squared test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyze the categorical and continuous data, respectively.

Regression models were employed to evaluate the impact of leisure-time physical activity on PhenoAgeAccel values with gender-specific subgroups.

Results

The results showed that regular physical activity during leisure time was associated with slower biological aging among individuals with type 2 diabetes. The study identified differences in biological aging rates based on the levels and patterns of leisure-time physical activity.

Individuals without regular physical activity during leisure time had significantly higher PhenoAgeAccel values, indicating higher physiological age than chronological age. Routine physical activity was found to reduce biological aging effectively.

Furthermore, those engaging in ‘weekend warrior’ physical activity patterns did not show statistically significant anti-aging effects, but slight benefits were observed.

The researchers found a strong inverse association between leisure-time physical activity and PhenoAgeAccel values, and the association persisted even after the analyses were adjusted for demographic, health, and lifestyle-related covariates.

For men, weekly leisure-time physical activity below approximately 677 minutes was found to be highly beneficial for lowering PhenoAgeAccel values, but higher activity did not add any benefits.

For women, the effective threshold was 502 minutes per week, beyond which additional activity did not significantly reduce PhenoAgeAccel values.

The threshold analysis also found that moderate but consistent leisure-time physical activity could significantly mitigate accelerated biological aging in type 2 diabetes patients.

Interestingly, interaction tests also showed that marital status influenced the relationship between leisure-time physical activity and biological aging, highlighting the importance of both behavioral and social factors in health.

Conclusions

Overall, the study underscored the importance of regular moderate-intensity physical activity in slowing biological aging in type 2 diabetes patients.

These findings also indicated the importance of public health strategies to encourage consistent leisure-time physical activity within the identified thresholds for each sex.