Exercise: an essential component of diabetes management

Objective: Regular exercise constitutes an essential component of diabetes management. However, the compliance with exercise related advice is poor among patients. Our objectives were to assess the compliance with exercise recommendations and the barriers to exercise among patients with diabetes.

Methods: 253 patients with type 2 diabetes treated in 3 different clinical settings; hospital diabetes clinic, hospital general medical clinics and general practitioners (GPs), were recruited for the study. Data were collected using an interviewer administered questionnaire.

Results: Out of 253 patients, only 45.1% (n=114) were properly educated regarding exercise as part of diabetes management. A higher percentage of patients in diabetes clinics were educated (60.6%, n=63) compared to patients attending medical clinics (26.5%, n=26) and the GPs (49%, n=25) regarding exercise. However, the compliance with exercise recommendations is poor (11.5%) irrespective of the clinical setting. Walking is the commonest mode of exercise (72.4%, n=21) followed by exercise machines (13.8%, n=4) and running (13.8%, n=4). In the non-exercising group, majority (51.6%, n=48) think that the activities of daily living are adequate as daily exercise. 18.3% (n=17) claim that they do not have time to exercise and 14% (n=13) are not really interested.

Conclusions: Adherence to regular exercise as part of diabetes management is poor among patients with diabetes. Current health promotional and health information delivering techniques have also failed to achieve the desired attitude change among patients towards regular exercise. This highlights the need for novel approaches to address this problem.

Sri Lanka Journal of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism 2012; 2: 57-60

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sjdem.v2i2.4773