Effectiveness of a diabetes education and intervention program on blood glucose control for patients with type 2 diabetes in a Turkish community.

This study was undertaken to determine the effects of patient education and other interventions (regular exercise and diet), combined with existing oral antidiabetic therapy, on blood glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Two out of 16 primary health care centers present in Elazig, an eastern Turkish city, were randomly selected for this study; the patients had type 2 DM, lived in the service area of these health centers. Of a total of 100 participants, 33 were instructed to follow the standard diet for type 2 DM patients, 28 performed exercise in addition to the standard diet, and 39 did not participate in either exercise or follow the diabetic diet; they served as the control group.