Adherence to a Home-Based Exercise Program and Incidence of Cardiovascular Disease in Type 2 Diabetes Patients

The aim of this study was to examine the association between adherence to a home-based exercise program and the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with type 2 diabetes. We investigated 102 patients with type 2 diabetes aged 35 to 75 years, and followed them prospectively for 17.2 months. Before enrollment, all patients received a traditional exercise prescription. The exercise program consisted of a daily walking exercise at home for 20 - 30 minutes. Self-reported adherence to the exercise program and the incidence of CVD were confirmed by information obtained from telephone interviews. There were 38 dropouts among the patients in the exercise program. Dropouts were significantly younger than completers. The rate of obesity was significantly higher among the dropouts than among the completers. No differences were observed between the two groups for gender, history of CVD and other clinical characteristics. During the follow-up, we documented 8 new cases of CVD. The incidence of CVD during the follow-up was 1.56 percent among the program completers and 18.4 percent among the dropouts. Adherence to the home-based exercise was inversely related to the incidence of CVD (p < 0.01). These associations persisted after adjustment for age and other covariates. In conclusion, adherence to an exercise program is associated with a reduced incidence of CVD among patients with type 2 diabetes.