Association of waist circumference with impaired six-minute walk in type 2 diabetes mellitus is independent of cardiac function.

Subclinical left ventricular dysfunction has been associated with impaired exercise capacity in type 2 diabetes mellitus. In this community-based study of 274 asymptomatic T2DM patients (71±4 years, 55% men) with preserved ejection fraction, a comprehensive resting echocardiogram was performed to gather sensitive systolic and diastolic function parameters (including speckle tracking echocardiography), and a standard six-minute walk test was performed. Tertiles of increasing waist circumference were associated with worsening walk distance. In this community-based study, we found an association of waist circumference with impaired exercise capacity, independent of age, gender, diabetes duration, insulin and angiotensin blockade, LV mass, systolic and diastolic function.