The Italian Diabetes and Exercise Study (IDES): design and methods for a prospective Italian multicentre trial of intensive lifestyle intervention in people with type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.

Background And Aims: The IDES is a prospective Italian multicentre randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of an intensive lifestyle intervention on modifiable cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in a large cohort of people with type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.

Methods And Results: We recruited 606 subjects with type 2 diabetes and waist circumference >94 cm (M) and >80 cm (F), plus >1 other metabolic syndrome trait (IDF criteria) for both sexes, aged 40-75 years, BMI 27-40 kg/m(2), diabetes duration >1 year with a sedentary lifestyle of >6 months. Patients were randomized into two groups: a control group, receiving conventional care including exercise counselling and an intervention group, treated with a mixed (aerobic and resistance) exercise programme (150 min/week) prescribed and supervised for 12 months.

Reducing obesity indicators through brief physical activity counseling (PACE) in Italian primary care settings.

Background: There is an alarming prevalence of obesity and sedentariness in Western countries. An ideal context for health promotion and preventive medicine seems to be the setting of primary care provided by the general practitioner (GP).

Purpose: Therefore, this study evaluated the impact of GPs' brief physical activity counseling for overweight and obese patients.