AIM: To observe the effect of rehabilitation nursing in the exercise therapy of middle-aged type 2 diabetic patients. METHODS: This study was carried out in Taishan Convalescent Hospital from March to December 2003. Among the 184 middle-aged type 2 diabetic patients hospitalized for more than one month during the same period, there were 62 cases (35 males and 27 females) were in accordance with the inclusion criteria. The 62 patients were randomly divided into exercise group (n = 30) and rehabilitation group (n = 32) under the conditions of relatively fixed drug, diet and exercise prescription. Patients in the exercise group received no other interventions during exercise therapy, while those in the rehabilitation group were given diabetic education, psychological instruction and other rehabilitation nursing means, the performing status of exercise therapy in the diabetic patients were supervised and examined. The indexes of blood glucose and blood lipid before and 1, 3 and 6 months after intervention were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Fasting blood glucose and 2-hour postprandial blood glucose after 3-month intervention were obviously lower in the rehabilitation group than in the exercise group (p < 0.05). Six months after intervention, the levels of fasting blood glucose, 2-hour postprandial blood glucose, triacylglycerol, total cholesterol and body mass index in the rehabilitation group (5.41 +/- 1.02, 7.60 +/- 0.45, 1.30 +/- 0.25, 4.20 +/- 0.68 mmol/L, 22.78 +/- 1.76 kg/m2) were obviously lower than those in the exercise group (8.64 +/- 0.76, 13.62 +/- 0.88, 1.46 +/- 0.22, 4.91 +/- 0.78 mmol/L, 24.01 +/- 0.17 kg/m2; p < 0.05 to 0.01), but the level of high density lipoprotein-cholesterol was significantly higher than that in the exercise group (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Rehabilitation nursing can improve the interventional efficacy of exercise therapy in type 2 diabetic patients.

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