Impact of structured exercise therapy on impaired cognitive function among young adults diagnosed newly with type 2 diabetes mellitus – A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is the most common endocrine disorder associated with cognitive dysfunction. Battery of papers has revealed that diabetes causes detrimental effects on range of cognitive functions. Therefore, the present study has been undertaken to assess, in a randomized manner, the impact of structured exercise therapy on various domains of cognition in young adults newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the age group of 20–45 years. Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted in the Research Laboratory, Department of Physiology, JN Medical College attached to Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital and MRC, Belagavi. As per eligibility criteria, a total of 148 newly diagnosed T2DM patients in the age group of 20–45 years were enrolled from the outpatient department, department of medicine, after obtaining institutional ethical clearance and informed consent from the patients. The patients were then divided randomly into diabetic controls and interventional group. The interventional group was asked to perform structured exercise therapy. Sociodemographic and cognitive functions (by PGI Battery of Brain Dysfunction) and glycated hemoglobin were evaluated at baseline and the end of 6 months for the study groups. Socio-demographic and cognitive functions (by PGI Battery of Brain Dysfunction) and glycated hemoglobin were evaluated at baseline and the end of 6 months for both of the study groups. Whereas, additionally in the interventional group, various parameters were studied for the four times i.e at the baseline, end of the 2nd, 4th, and 6th months. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 20.0 (Armonk, NY, IBM Corp., USA) was used for appropriate statistical analysis. Results: A significant improvement was observed in cognitive functions in the interventional group at the end of 6 months with structured exercise therapy.P