From Zero to Hero: Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients Hike on the Way of St. James—A Feasibility Study with Analyses of Patients’ Quality of Life, Diabetes Distress and Glucose Profile

Frederike Maria Meuffels, Hans-Peter Kempe, Ulrike Becker, Martin Kornmann, Stephan Kress, Thorsten Kreutz and Christian Brinkmann ()
Additional contact information
Frederike Maria Meuffels: Department of Preventive and Rehabilitative Sport Medicine, Institute of Cardiovascular Research and Sport Medicine, German Sport University Cologne, 50933 Cologne, Germany
Hans-Peter Kempe: Diabetes Center Ludwigshafen, 67067 Ludwigshafen, Germany
Ulrike Becker: Working Group “Diabetes, Sports and Exercise”, German Diabetes Association (DDG), 10117 Berlin, Germany
Martin Kornmann: Working Group “Diabetes, Sports and Exercise”, German Diabetes Association (DDG), 10117 Berlin, Germany
Stephan Kress: Working Group “Diabetes, Sports and Exercise”, German Diabetes Association (DDG), 10117 Berlin, Germany
Thorsten Kreutz: Department of Fitness & Health, IST University of Applied Sciences, 40233 Düsseldorf, Germany
Christian Brinkmann: Department of Preventive and Rehabilitative Sport Medicine, Institute of Cardiovascular Research and Sport Medicine, German Sport University Cologne, 50933 Cologne, Germany

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-9

Abstract: This study investigates the feasibility of an accompanied 5-day hiking tour (Way of St. James) for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and its impact on their quality of life/well-being, diabetes distress and glucose profile. Twenty-three T2DM patients (with and without insulin therapy) participated in the study. The 120 km pilgrimage (from Ferrol to Santiago de Compostela, Spain) was accompanied by three physicians, two diabetes counselors and one sports scientist. Quality of life/well-being was assessed by the World Health Organization’s (WHO)-5 questionnaire, and diabetes distress was evaluated based on the Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) scale. The glucose levels of six insulin-treated patients were measured using continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices, considering that insulin-treated patients can be at increased risk of exercise-induced hypoglycemia. A significant improvement in quality of life/well-being was reported ( p < 0.001), while diabetes distress did not change significantly ( p = 0.203). Only two of the six insulin-treated patients showed moderate hypoglycemic episodes between 0.97% and 5.21% time below range per day, with glucose levels between 53–70 mg/dL. Hiking tours such as the one organized for this study can improve quality of life/well-being without increasing diabetes distress and are considered relatively safe for T2DM patients, even for those being treated with insulin.

Keywords: diabetes; hiking; pilgrimage; quality of life; well-being; diabetes distress; glucose profile; continuous glucose monitoring (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1417/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1417/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1417-:d:1034063

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().