Patients With T1D Show Poor BP Control During Exercise

TOPLINE:

Patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) exhibited significantly greater increases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure during the cardiopulmonary exercise stress test than healthy control individuals. Resting systolic blood pressure and the duration of diabetes were significant predictors of higher blood pressure during exercise.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a cross-sectional exploratory study to evaluate blood pressure responses to exercise and identify determinants of these changes during an exercise stress test in patients with T1D.
• This study enrolled 52 patients with T1D, including younger patients (< 35 years; n = 35) and older patients (> 35 years; n = 17) with a disease duration of more than 5 years, and 25 healthy control individuals.
• Participants underwent a cardiopulmonary exercise stress test using a stationary cycle ergometer; manual blood pressure measurements were taken at rest, during submaximal intensities (0.5 and 1.0 W/kg) including at peak exercise, and during the recovery phase.
• Medical histories and anthropometric measurements were recorded for every participant.
• Excessive blood pressure response to exercise was defined as either a peak systolic blood pressure > 210 mm Hg in men and > 190 mm Hg in women or an increase in systolic blood pressure by > 30 mm Hg from baseline at the submaximal workload of 1.0 W/kg.

TAKEAWAY:

• All patients with T1D and younger patients had higher resting systolic blood pressure and resting diastolic blood pressure, respectively, than control individuals.
• Patients with T1D showed higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure than control individuals at both submaximal exercise intensities (1.0 W/kg; P < .0001 and P = .0001, respectively) and peak exercise (P = .0006 and P = .0083, respectively).
• In the multivariate analysis, resting systolic blood pressure and diabetes duration were the only significant predictors of peak systolic blood pressure during exercise.

IN PRACTICE:

“The higher BP [blood pressure] response observed in our cohort underscores the need for careful monitoring and potential therapeutic interventions aimed at improving vascular health and autonomic function in these patients,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Ondřej Mikeš, First Faculty of Medicine, General University Hospital, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. It was published online on August 13, 2025, in Scientific Reports.

LIMITATIONS:

The cross-sectional design limited causal inferences, and the small sample size with a lack of age-matched control individuals for older patients with T1D affected the study’s generalisability. Moreover, this study did not measure ambulatory blood pressure.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by the General University Hospital in Prague. The authors reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.