• Hee Jin Kim, Tae Sik Jung, Jung Hwa Jung, Soo Kyoung Kim, Sang Min Lee, Kyong Young Kim, Deok Ryong Kim, Yeong Mi Seo, and Jong Ryeal Hahm.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, 79 Gangnam-ro, Jinju 660-702, Korea.
• Yonsei Med. J. 2013 Mar 1; 54 (2): 345351345-51.

PurposeThe aim of this study is to observe glycemic changes after emphasizing the importance of lifestyle modification in patients with mild or moderately uncontrolled type 2 diabetes.Materials And MethodsWe examined 51 type 2 diabetic patients with 7.0-9.0% hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) who preferred to change their lifestyle rather than followed the recommendation of medication change. At the enrollment, the study subjects completed questionnaires about diet and exercise. After 3 months, HbA1c levels were determined and questionnaires on the change of lifestyle were accomplished. We divided the study subjects into 3 groups: improved (more than 0.3% decrease of HbA1c), aggravated (more than 0.3% increase of HbA1c) and not changed (-0.3% ResultsAmong the total 51 subjects, 18 patients (35.3%) showed the decreased levels of HbA1c after 3 months with mean change of -0.74±0.27%, and HbA1c values of 11 patients (21.5%) were less than 7%. In addition, the HbA1c level was significantly reduced in patients who reportedly followed the lifestyle modification such as diet and exercise for 3 months, compared with the one obtained from patients who refused this lifestyle change (p=0.002).ConclusionIn this study, 35.3% of the patients with mild or moderately uncontrolled type 2 diabetes showed the significant improvement of HbA1c levels after 3 months by simply regulating their daily diet and exercise without change of medication. This suggests that the lifestyle modification is significantly associated with the improvement of glucose control.

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