Table 2.
Physicians’ practice of dietary and exercise recommendations according to diabetes guidelines (n (%))
| Categories | Overall (n=1150) |
Physicians in different level hospitals | |||
| Tertiary care hospital physicians (n=461) |
Secondary care hospital physicians (n=307) |
Primary care practitioners (n=382) |
P value | ||
| Dietary management | |||||
| Hand over to a specialised nutritionist or comprehensive management team | 348 (30.3) | 182 (39.5) | 79 (25.7) | 87 (22.8) | <0.001 |
| Personally evaluate the nutritional status of patients and provide detailed nutritional treatment suggestions and goals | 640 (55.7) | 283 (61.4) | 189 (61.6) | 168 (44.0) | <0.001 |
| Advise patients to follow specific dietary patterns, for example, the Mediterranean diet, a low-fat and low-energy diet | 626 (54.4) | 263 (57.1) | 163 (53.1) | 200 (52.4) | 0.340 |
| Distribute brochures | 701 (61.0) | 265 (57.5) | 199 (64.8) | 237 (62.0) | 0.108 |
| Provide dietary guidance based on the TCM principle of food and medicine sharing the same source | 546 (47.5) | 208 (45.1) | 147 (47.9) | 191 (50.0) | 0.364 |
| Due to the limited consultation time, patients are only given basic dietary advice | 334 (29.0) | 129 (28.0) | 75 (24.4) | 130 (54.0) | 0.018 |
| Physical exercise management | |||||
| Hand over to a specialised health manager or professional manager team | 277 (24.1) | 135 (29.3) | 65 (21.2) | 77 (20.2) | 0.003 |
| Personally evaluate the health and athletic ability of patients, then provide detailed exercise recommendations | 723 (62.9) | 307 (66.6) | 214 (69.7) | 202 (52.9) | <0.001 |
| For patients with frequent hypoglycaemia, increase physical exercise and improve physical fitness | 453 (39.4) | 161 (34.9) | 120 (39.1) | 172 (45.0) | 0.011 |
| Distribute brochures | 716 (62.3) | 258 (56.0) | 208 (67.8) | 250 (65.5) | 0.001 |
| Guidance on TCM physical exercises, such as Tai χ and Baduanjin | 539 (46.9) | 207 (44.9) | 152 (49.5) | 180 (47.1) | 0.452 |
| Due to the limited consultation time, patients are only advised to exercise regularly | 389 (33.8) | 158 (34.3) | 97 (31.6) | 134 (35.1) | 0.609 |
TCM, traditional Chinese medicine.