Low physical activity in patients with type 2 diabetes: the role of obesity

Abstract

Aims: Few studies have described ambulatory activity in free-living individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) using motion sensors, and none included a control group. For this reason, our study compared the physical-activity levels of outpatients with T2DM with subjects without diabetes, and examined the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and physical-activity parameters.

Methods: Physical-activity levels in 70 outpatients with T2DM and 30 age-, gender- and employment-matched individuals without diabetes were measured using the SenseWear Armband™, a monitoring device validated against doubly labelled water, to assess total energy expenditure. Patients wore the SenseWear Armband™ on their right arm continuously every day for 1 week.

Results: Total energy expenditure (<300 kcal/day), number of steps (<1500/day), physical-activity duration (<130 min/day) and active energy expenditure/day (<300 kcal) were all significantly lower (P<0.05) in patients with T2DM. These measures were inversely correlated with BMI, and remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, employment status and the presence of diabetes.

Conclusion: Outpatients with T2DM have lower physical-activity levels than their matched controls, a characteristic that is related to their higher BMI.