The Effect of Exercise Interventions to Improve Psychosocial Aspects and Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetic Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients have a raised risk of developing depression compared with non-diabetic people.

Objective: The objective of this meta-analysis was to investigate the impacts of exercise training interventions to improve psychosocial aspects and glycemic control in T2DM patients.

Data sources: PubMed, CINAHL, Medline, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases and reference lists of included studies were searched.

Study selection: The selection criteria were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using an exercise intervention with or without dietary advice on psychological aspects and glycemic control in T2DM patients, up to January 2021. Meta-analyses were performed using the random-effects model. The analysis included 17 RCTs with 2,127 participants.

Results: In the pooled analysis, improvements were seen in depression, standard mean difference (SMD) -0.65 (95% confidence interval (CI) -1.03 to -0.28, p = 0.0006), mental health SMD: 0.53 (95% CI 0.31 to 0.76, p < 0.00001), and HbA1c, weighted mean difference (WMD) -0.51% (95% CI -0.97 to -0.04, p = 0.03). There were no significant differences between the intervention and control groups for bodily pain, social functioning, and fasting glucose (all p > 0.05).

Conclusion: Our systematic review and meta-analysis displayed that exercise training interventions decreased depression and HbA1c and increased mental health in individuals with T2DM. Further longer-term and high-quality clinical trials are required to additional assess and confirm the findings presented here.