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REVIEW article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Clinical Diabetes
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1499051
Effect of Traditional Chinese Exercise on Older patients with diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Provisionally accepted- 1Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
- 2University Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- 3Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
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Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of traditional Chinese exercises (TCEs) on blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), body mass index (BMI), and health-related quality of life in older patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).Methods: Database searches were systematically conducted across multiple platforms. The review adhered to PRISMA guidelines, utilizing the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool to gauge literature quality. Review Manager 5.3 was employed for data evaluation, calculating mean differences to ascertain pooled effect sizes.Results: This study encompassed 11 randomized controlled trials involving 944 individuals. The results showed that TCEs reduced fasting blood glucose (-0.76, 95% CI [-1.14, -0.38], P = 0.0001), HbA1c (-2.64, 95% CI [-4.81, -0.47], P = 0.02), and BMI (-0.83, 95% CI [-1.42, -0.24], P = 0.006), and improved health-related quality of life. Among the various forms of TCEs, Baduanjin (BDJ) appeared particularly beneficial.Conclusions: Traditional Chinese exercises can improve blood glucose levels, BMI and quality of life-related indicators to varying degrees in older diabetes patients, and may be a useful complementary therapy for this population.
Keywords: Older patient, Diabetes Mellitus, Blood Glucose, traditional Chinese exercise, Systematic review, Meta-analysis
Received: 20 Sep 2024; Accepted: 11 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Chen, Che, Chui and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jing Chen, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.