The 2000 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the dietary guidelines for the control of diabetes in Mexico include recommendations that adults participate in at least 30 min of moderate physical activity, preferably daily (1,2). However, to our knowledge, there have been no studies that explore the effect of diabetes intervention programs on physical activity among migrant Mexican women with type 2 diabetes.
All women from seven diabetes education groups from three different Mexican institutions located in Tijuana were invited to answer a previously validated questionnaire on physical activity. Of 111 questionnaires, 100 were adequately answered. The mean age was 53 ± 12 years. The majority of the sample was migrants from other Mexican states, and 40% were classified as overweight and 31% as obese. Of the women, 62, 45, and 15% reported >20, >30, and >60 min of physical activity per day, respectively. Seventy-three percent reported >80 min of weekly physical activity. Daily outdoor activity of participants was 39 ± 4.2 min (mean ± SE), and daily indoor activity was 5.72 ± 0.27 h. Total light activity (<3.0 metabolic equivalents [METs]) was 5.28 ± 0.24 h/day, total moderate activity (3–6 METs) was 55 ± 14 min/day, and total vigorous activity (>6.0 METs) was 4.2 ± 0.6 min/day. The average physical activity level was 1.54 ± 0.03. The main indoor activities were cooking (11 h/week), dishwashing and clothes washing (3.2 h/week), cleaning (3.1 h/week), and shopping (1.9 h/week), and the main outdoor physical activities were walking (3.1 h/week), semiactive exercise and stretching (1.26 h/week), running (0.23 h/week), and bicycle riding (0.18 h/week). The main resting activity was sleeping (49.16 h/week), followed by watching television (11.3 h/week), resting in bed (2 h/week), driving or sitting in a car (1.5 h/week), and sitting at home (1.38 h/week).
This study shows that the majority of Mexicans with diabetes who are willing to participate in diabetes education groups at the primary health care clinics engage in >20 min of daily physical activity, which therefore reinforces the need for promoting culturally based interventions (3,4). These results are better than the national data for adults with type 2 diabetes in Mexico and the U.S. (5,6); however, the groups we studied were especially motivated subjects interested in obtaining better metabolic control through diabetes education groups. On the other hand, the population from this study, which has a low socioeconomic status, usually confronts major environmental or economic barriers that prevent access to safe recreational areas or fitness facilities. Thus, even with economic constraints and inadequate environmental access to physical activity, promoting physical activity in a culturally based intervention is a worthwhile strategy that should be supported. Although further studies in large populations are still required to evaluate the effectiveness at a larger scale, at the primary care level of Mexican institutions, stronger emphasis should be placed on promoting physical activity.
