Published in:
01-03-2012 | Article
Relationship of exercise volume to improvements of quality of life with supervised exercise training in patients with type 2 diabetes in a randomised controlled trial: the Italian Diabetes and Exercise Study (IDES)
Published in: Diabetologia | Issue 3/2012
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Aims/hypothesis
A positive impact of exercise intervention programmes on quality of life (QoL) may be important for long-term patient compliance to exercise recommendations. We have previously shown that QoL improves significantly with supervised exercise, whereas it worsens with counselling alone, in patients with type 2 diabetes from the Italian Diabetes and Exercise Study (IDES). Here, we report data on the relationship between changes in QoL and volume of physical activity/exercise in these individuals.
Methods
This multicentre parallel randomised controlled, open-label, trial enrolled sedentary patients with type 2 diabetes (n = 606 of 691 eligible) in 22 outpatient diabetes clinics. Patients were randomised by centre, age and diabetes treatment using a permuted-block design to twice-a-week supervised aerobic and resistance training plus exercise counselling (exercise group) versus counselling alone (control group) for 12 months. Health-related QoL was assessed by the 36-Item Short Form (SF-36) Health Survey.
Results
In the exercise group (n = 268 of 303 randomised), there was a trend for increasing QoL with increasing exercise volume, with significant improvement of the physical component summary (PCS) measure only above 17.5 metabolic equivalents h−1 week−1 and a clear volume-relationship for the mental component summary (MCS) measure. A relationship with volume of physical activity also was observed in the control group (n = 260 of 303 randomised), despite overall deterioration of all scores. Independent correlates of improvements in both PCS and MCS were exercise volume, study arm and, inversely, baseline score.
Conclusions/interpretation
This large trial shows a relationship between changes in physical and mental health-related QoL measures and volume of physical activity/exercise, with supervised exercise training also providing volume-independent benefits.
Trial registration:
ISRCTN-04252749
Funding:
The study was funded by Lifescan SrL, Novo Nordisk Ltd, Bristol Myers Squibb Italy, Technogym SpA and Cosmed SrL.