Educational physical activity camp in type 1 diabetes: Can be useful to promote an active lifestyle?

Physical activity (PA) improves glycemic control and reduces the risk of chronic diabetes-related complications. Despite this evidence, most people with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) do not regularly exercise, mainly due to fear of hypoglycemia during exercise. Improving knowledge in the management of the pathology during exercise can help to reduce PA limiting factors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of an educational PA camp for patients with T1DM to improve active lifestyle. This study involved T1DM's adults attended an educational camp focused on PA and management of glycaemia during exercise. Subjects filled three questionnaires: International PA Questionnaire (IPAQ), Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) and Exercise Motivation Inventory (EMI). Data at baseline and after the camp at 1, 3 and 6 month later were analyzed. 25 type 1 diabetics participated at the camp (41.5 ± 11.49 years, 12 females). Subjects who had higher values of PAID presented lower levels of PA. After 3rd and 6th months improvements in PA level were recorded for both genders. PA increased similarly for subjects with lower and higher PAID. At least, EMI's results show that achieving of "physical well-being" was the mainly motivation to increase PA level. These findings showed a positive impact of educational camp on improvement of PA level. A better knowledge in the management of the diabetes during exercise could lead subjects to a more active lifestyle reducing limitation factors. Finally, our results suggest that PA promotion should be better focused on patients with greater difficulties perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]