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The following is a summary of “Quality of life and physical activity in type 1 diabetes,” published in the May 2025 issue of BMC Pediatrics by Cockcroft et al. 

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) affected nearly 34,000 individuals aged 18 years or younger, and the impact of physical activity on QoL remained unclear due to confounding factors such as disease duration and co-morbidities.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to investigate the effect of physical activity interventions on QoL among children with T1D.  

They followed Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) 2009 guidance for the review and searched the CINAHL, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Medline, PubMed, and PsychINFO databases from January 1994 to March 2025. Studies were included if they involved children under 19 years old, had an intervention lasting more than a single exercise session, and included a control group (with or without T1D) for comparison. The primary outcome measure was QoL indicators.  

The results showed that 3,020 records were assessed, with 3 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2007 and 2020 meeting the inclusion criteria. There was considerable heterogeneity in study design, methods, and reporting. The benefits of physical activity were not consistently observed across the studies.  

Investigators concluded that limited data on QoL outcomes and a lack of standardization in measuring QoL in this cohort highlighted the need for further research to explore the psychological framework for achieving long-term physical and psychological health improvements in children with T1D. 

Source: bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12887-025-05632-6