ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the effect of walking on residual beta cell function and glycemic control in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus.Methods A total of 117 type 1 diabetes mellitus patients who usually walked less than 5000 steps per day were given health education about exercise and divided into three groups according to their self-estimates of the number of walking steps they had taken daily in the previous 4 months:an absent exercise group (＜ 5000 steps/day),a basic exercise group (5000-10000 steps/day) and an active exercise group (＞ 10000 steps/day).Among them,34 were in absent group (23.5％ for males),45 were in basis exercise group (40.0％ for males) and 38 were in active exercise group (52.6％ for males).Fasting C-peptide,postprandial C-peptide,and postprandial C-peptide to glucose ratio were used to evaluate the residual beta cell function,while glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and insulin dose-adjusted HbAlc (IDAAlc) were used to evaluate their glycemic control.Results The beta cell function and glycemic control showed a tendency to improve with increases in the number of walking steps.Fasting C-peptide,postprandial Cpeptide and the postprandial C-peptide to glucose ratio also increased significantly,while HbA1c and IDAA1c decreased significantly.After balancing the initial difference in the analysis of covariance,significant differences were still found among the 3 groups in the subjects' beta cell function and glycemic control during the follow-up.Linear regression showed that a large number of steps independently predicted better beta cell function.Conclusions In patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus,walking exercise may be effective for improving residual beta cell function and glycemic control.