Effectiveness of diet-combined exercise interventions for glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

INTRODUCTION: To systematically analyze the effect of diet combined with exercise intervention on blood glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: Six databases including PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE, MEDLINE and CNKI were searched from establishment to September 2024. Randomized Control Trial (RCT) articles that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were screened. Meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.3 software. The quality of the literature was assessed using the Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews. Subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were used to find the source of heterogeneity. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Sixteen studies were included, with a total of 7212 patients with type 2 diabetes. There were 3678 cases in the intervention group and 3534 cases in the control group. The results of meta-analysis showed that dietary combined exercise intervention significantly improved fasting blood glucose (MD=-0.39, 95% CI: -0.72~-0.06, P=0.02) and 2-hour postprandial blood glucose (MD=-1.67, 95% CI: -3.62~0.27, P=0.09), glycosylated hemoglobin, HbA1c (MD=-0.49, 95% CI: -1.27~-0.33, P