An Investigation of the Effects of Long-Term Exercise on Serum Adropin Levels and Improvement of HOMA-IR in Obese Sedentary Women

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect 16 weeks of aerobic exercise on serum adropin levels and insulin resistance index in obese sedentary women. 20 obese women (mean ± SD: age: 41.40±4.53 yr; weight: 76.69±6.14 kg) participated in this study. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups: aerobic exercise (EX) and control. The exercise program in EX group consisted of 90 minutes of aerobic exercise and running on a treadmill for 15.18±5.63 minutes, 4 sessions a week for 16 weeks with an intensity of 7 MET. Before and after the intervention, blood samples were collected to measure serum adropin, fasting insulin and glucose. Paired sample t test and independent t test were used to analyze data. BMI, WHR and HOMA-IR showed a significant reduction in EX group compared with the control group. Serum adropin levels increased significantly in EX group compared with the control group. A significant correlation were observed between changes of adropin and changes of BMI, WHR and HOMA-IR (P<0.05). According to the relationship between adropin and insulin resistance and their susceptibility to aerobic exercise, adropin may play a special role in weight control and prevention of type 2 diabetes.