Barriers and promoters of physical activity among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus presenting in family medicine clinics

A BSTRACT Context: Physical Activity (PA) significantly contributes to the management and prevention of various non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases. A good PA for patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), is identified as a key to management and improvement. Aim: This study aims to evaluate PA among diabetic patients along with factors preventing or enabling them performing PA to manage their health. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Family Medicine Clinics of Indus Hospital and Health Network, Karachi. Subject and Methods: Study was conducted during August-2022 to April-2023. In this study 345 patients with T2DM aged between 25 and 65 years were enrolled in the study. The outcome variables i.e. PA, barriers and promoters of PA were assessed. Statistical Analysis: Data analysis was performed IBM SPSS v 26. Qualitative variables were reported as frequency (%) while quantitative variables were reported as mean ± SD/median (IQR). For controlling confounders, binary logistic regression was applied. Results: Among 345 patients, female was predominant (68.9%) and the median age of patients was 53 years. However, 94.5% patients were observed to have low PA. The most common barrier and promoter of PA was unavailability of place (14.5%) and good glycemic control (45.5%) respectively. Conclusion: The majority of the patients with T2DM were found to have low PA. The most common barriers and promoters of PA were the unavailability of a place to exercise and good glycaemic control, respectively.