Lifestyle Change Improves Mobility in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Better mobility was related more to weight loss than to better fitness.


Many approaches to lifestyle modification in patients with diabetes result in weight loss and better glycemic control. Researchers looked beyond those outcomes to improvements in mobility. About 5000 adults with type 2 diabetes (mean age, 59; 60% women; mean body-mass index, 36 kg/m2) were randomized to follow an intensive lifestyle-modification program or a diabetes education-and-support program.

By 1 year, mean weekly calorie expenditure was significantly greater in the intensive-intervention group than in the control group (881 kcal vs. 99 kcal), as was mean percentage weight loss (6% vs. 1%). At 4 years, according to a multicomponent annual assessment of mobility-related disability, the percentage of intensive-intervention recipients with good mobility rose from 37% at baseline to 39%, compared with a decline in the control group from 33% to 32%. The percentage with severe or moderate mobility-related disability increased more in the control group (from 37% to 43%) than in the intensive-intervention group (from 33% to 37%). Mobility benefits in the intensive-intervention group were mediated more through weight loss than better fitness.


Citation(s):

Rejeski WJ et al. Lifestyle change and mobility in obese adults with type 2 diabetes. N Engl J Med 2012 Mar 29; 366:1209.