The effect of aerobic training on serum levels of Growth differentiation factor-15 and insulin resistance in elderly women with metabolic syndrome

Background and Objective: Aerobic training plays an important role in the improvement of cardiovascular-metabolic disorders associated with aging and metabolic syndrome; however, the role of this type of training on growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) as a new biomarker for predicting cardiac disorders is not understood. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of aerobic training on serum levels of GDF-15 and insulin resistance index in elderly women with metabolic syndrome. Materials and Method: 24 elderly women with metabolic syndrome (age: 65.37±4.08, weight: 88.98±6.56 kg, BMI: 34.14±1.47) were randomly divided into two groups of aerobic training (n=12) and control group (n=12). The aerobic training protocol was administered for 12 weeks, three sessions per week at an intensity of 65-50% of maximum heart rate. Serum samples were collected in pre-test and post-test for ELISA using insulin, glucose and GDF-15. Results: Results of data analysis showed that aerobic training resulted in a significant decrease in serum GDF-15 compared to control group (P˂0.05). Also, aerobic training was associated with a significant decrease in serum glucose and insulin resistance (P˂0.05), while it had no effect on serum insulin (P˃0.05). Conclusion: It seems that aerobic training has an effective role in reducing serum GDF-15, which may be due to the improvement of metabolic parameters and consequently a reduction in the need for GDF-15 compensation.