TITLE:
The Role of Physical Counselling in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review
AUTHORS:
Elisabetta Carraro, Mattia Roppolo, Sara Bonetta, Giorgio Gilli
KEYWORDS:
Physical Activity Counselling, Interventions, Health Promotion, Lifestyle Change, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Diabetes Mellitus,
Vol.5 No.2,
May
8,
2015
ABSTRACT: Context: Physical exercise is a key
component of treatment and management of people with Type 2 Diabetes, but the
role of strategies and interventions to increase and promote physical activity
is unclear. Objective: To conduct a systematic review of intervention studies
assessing the effects of physical activity counselling on health outcomes in
subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Data sources: The Cochrane Library,
MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, LILACS, ClinicalTrials.gov databases were used for the
literature search. Data Selection: Studies that assessed the effects of
interventions mainly based on physical activity counselling strategies, on
physical activity level and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were included in
the review. Data Extraction: Two independent reviewers extracted the data. Data
Synthesis: A total of 23 studies out of 1425 retrieved from databases search,
were included in the review. The global number of subjects included in the
selected studies was 9913, and the mean age of participants was 58.8 (±8.2)
years (min = 46.3; max = 73.6). The most part of the studies (19) reported
values of physical activity level; 13 of them (68.4%) found a significant
effect after the counselling intervention, while 6 (31.6%) did not found
significant changes. Among the 17 studies reporting data on HbA1c 9 (52.9%)
described a significant decrease in the counselling intervention group, while 7
(41.2%) did not find any statistically significant change and 1 (5.9%) reported
a significant HbA1c reduction in the comparison group rather than the
counselling group. Conclusions: The results presented in this systematic review
seem to affirm the usefulness of physical counselling interventions on physical
activity and HbA1c, however the lack of homogeneity in the intervention
protocols and the contrasting results limit the comprehension of the usefulness
of such an approach in patient with type 2 diabetes.