Nível de atividade física e exercício físico em pacientes com diabetes mellitus

objective: to compare physical activity level (pal) and care related to exercise in patients with diabetes mellitus (dm). methods: dm outpatients (adult, insulin-user patients) were assessed for pal (international questionnaire; moderate- and high-level activities, as well as walking, over a typical week) and questioned about formal exercise practice, self-care, and hypoglycemic episodes related to exercise or reasons for not exercising. results: two hundred twenty five patients were assessed: 107 (47.6%) had type 2 diabetes mellitus (dm2) and 118 (52.4%) had type 1 diabetes mellitus (dm1), with a larger percentage of patients with dm2 being classified as poorly active [33 (30.7%) versus 12 (10.3%)] and a lower percentage being classified as highly active [9 (8.7%) versus 29 (25%)], compared with patients having dm1. patients who do not exercise (n = 140) gave different reasons for not doing so: patients with dm2 claimed that they "felt uncomfortable", "presented medical restrictions", and "did not like it"; dm1 patients claimed that they "had no time to exercise", "were lazy", and "had hypoglycemic episodes". only 85 patients exercised regularly, regardless of the pal, and 38.8% performed self-care, such as eating, stretching, and capillary glucose monitoring. patients with dm2 [5 (14.3%)] reported a lower number of hypoglycemic episodes related to exercise than those with dm1 [17 (34%)]. conclusion: patients with dm2 have different pal and behavior related to exercise than those seen in dm1 patients.