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Physical activity level and exercise in patients with diabetes mellitus
Camila Kümmel Duarte1, Jussara Carnevale de Almeida, Aline Juliana Schneider Merker
1Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. camila.kummel@gmail.com
Objective:
To compare physical activity level (PAL) and care related to exercise in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).
Methods:
DM outpatients (adult, insulin-user patients) were assessed for PAL (international questionnaire; moderate- and high-level activities, as well as walking, over a typical week) and questioned about formal exercise practice, self-care, and hypoglycemic episodes related to exercise or reasons for not exercising.
Results:
Two hundred twenty five patients were assessed: 107 (47.6%) had type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) and 118 (52.4%) had type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1), with a larger percentage of patients with DM2 being classified as poorly active [33 (30.7%) versus 12 (10.3%)] and a lower percentage being classified as highly active [9 (8.7%) versus 29 (25%)], compared with patients having DM1. Patients who do not exercise (n = 140) gave different reasons for not doing so: patients with DM2 claimed that they "felt uncomfortable", "presented medical restrictions", and "did not like it"; DM1 patients claimed that they "had no time to exercise", "were lazy", and "had hypoglycemic episodes". Only 85 patients exercised regularly, regardless of the PAL, and 38.8% performed self-care, such as eating, stretching, and capillary glucose monitoring. Patients with DM2 [5 (14.3%)] reported a lower number of hypoglycemic episodes related to exercise than those with DM1 [17 (34%)].
Conclusion:
Patients with DM2 have different PAL and behavior related to exercise than those seen in DM1 patients.
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