Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Mar 15, 2022; 13(3): 161-184
Published online Mar 15, 2022. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v13.i3.161
Protective effects of physical activity against health risks associated with type 1 diabetes: “Health benefits outweigh the risks”
Addisu Dabi Wake
Addisu Dabi Wake, Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Arsi University, Asella 193/4, Ethiopia
Author contributions: The author made substantial contributions to conception and design of the study, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the article and making critical revisions related to important intellectual content of the manuscript; and final approval of the version of the article to be published.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declare no conflicts of interest in this work.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Addisu Dabi Wake, MSc, Academic Research, Senior Lecturer, Senior Researcher, Department of Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Arsi University, Asella 193/4, Ethiopia. addansa12@gmail.com
Received: September 11, 2021
Peer-review started: September 11, 2021
First decision: December 4, 2021
Revised: December 8, 2021
Accepted: February 20, 2022
Article in press: February 20, 2022
Published online: March 15, 2022
Processing time: 184 Days and 17.6 Hours
Abstract

The magnitude of diabetes mellitus (DM) has increased in recent decades, where the number of cases and the proportion of the disease have been gradually increasing over the past few decades. The chronic complications of DM affect many organ systems and account for the majority of morbidity and mortality associated with the disease. The prevalence of type 1 DM (T1DM) is increasing globally, and it has a very significant burden on countries and at an individual level. T1DM is a chronic illness that requires ongoing medical care and patient self-management to prevent complications. This study aims to discuss the health benefits of physical activity (PA) in T1DM patients. The present review article was performed following a comprehensive literature search. The search was conducted using the following electronic databases: “Cochrane Library”, Web of Science, PubMed, HINARI, EMBASE, Google for grey literature, Scopus, African journals Online, and Google Scholar for articles published up to June 21, 2021. The present review focused on the effects of PA on many outcomes such as blood glucose (BG) control, physical fitness, endothelial function, insulin sensitivity, well-being, the body defense system, blood lipid profile, insulin resistance, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), insulin requirements, blood pressure (BP), and mortality. It was found that many studies recommended the use of PA for the effective management of T1DM. PA is a component of comprehensive lifestyle modifications, which is a significant approach for the management of T1DM. It provides several health benefits, such as improving BG control, physical fitness, endothelial function, insulin sensitivity, well-being, and the body defense system. Besides this, it reduces the blood lipid profile, insulin resistance, CVDs, insulin requirements, BP, and mortality. Overall, PA has significant and essential protective effects against the health risks associated with T1DM. Even though PA has several health benefits for patients with T1DM, these patients are not well engaged in PA due to barriers such as a fear of exercise-induced hypoglycemia in particular. However, several effective strategies have been identified to control exercise-induced hypoglycemia in these patients. Finally, the present review concludes that PA should be recommended for the management of patients with T1DM due to its significant health benefits and protective effects against associated health risks. It also provides suggestions for the future direction of research in this field.

Keywords: Type 1 diabetes mellitus; Physical activity; Health benefit; Glycemic control; Exercise

Core Tip: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of chronic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. The impairment of beta-cell function is an ancient feature of disease pathogenesis, while a significant reduction in beta-cell mass is closely associated with clinical manifestations in type 1 DM and type 2 DM. Physical activity (PA) is good for almost every individual. PA is a significant mediator of glycemic control and prevents pathologies related to increased postprandial glucose. Its significant role in the prevention and management of noncommunicable diseases is extensively understood. PA is widely known to be an effective approach for the prevention and management of numerous chronic diseases.