De quoi s'agit-il ?  

Physical activity (PA) plays a critical role in the management of type 2 diabetes (T2DM), contributing to improved glycemic control, reduced cardiovascular risk, and enhanced quality of life. Despite well-documented benefits, the influence of PA on T2DM progression and patient-related outcomes is not yet fully applied in clinical practice. 

Our work focuses on exploring how primary care settings, particularly community pharmacies, may offer a promising platform for promoting PA in T2DM patients due to their accessibility and established role in public health. 

Our first step was to conduct a systematic review that identified interventions conducted by pharmacists in community pharmacies promoting PA. Through this research we found several interventions to improve PA through community pharmacies although with a high level of heterogeneity and only few presented a low risk of bias.  

Our second step included a set of qualitative studies to explore perceptions about the potential added value of PA promotion in pharmacies, which involved: 1) various healthcare professionals, 2) pharmaceutical stakeholders, and 3) individuals living with type 2 diabetes.  

Currently, a cluster randomized controlled trial is being conducted in 28 pharmacies, reaching more than 120 participants with T2DM, aiming to evaluate the impact of pharmacist-led brief counselling on physical activity levels, measured through step count via wrist-worn devices.  

Another study aimed to understand a possible association between PA and medication use patterns, using a retrospective medicines analysis from the SITLESS European study. 

Pourquoi est-ce important ?  

Physical activity (PA) plays a critical role in the management and prevention of type 2 diabetes (T2DM), offering well-established benefits such as improved glycemic control, reduced cardiovascular risk, and enhanced quality of life. As the global prevalence of T2DM continues to rise, there is an urgent need for scalable, cost-effective interventions that support lifestyle changes and improve patient outcomes. Community pharmacies, due to their accessibility and established role in health promotion due to a long history of contributing to public health initiatives, represent a promising yet underutilized setting for delivering PA interventions. These settings have the potential to reach broad populations through brief counselling and support initiatives. However, expanding the impact of such interventions requires addressing key challenges, including the need for improved pharmacist training, interprofessional collaboration, service remuneration, and the integration of objective tools to measure PA and related health outcomes. Strengthening the role of pharmacies in this context could significantly advance public health efforts in diabetes care and prevention. 

Messages à emporter  

• Physical activity is essential for managing and preventing type 2 diabetes, offering benefits such as improved glycemic control, reduced cardiovascular risk, and improved quality of life. 

• Community pharmacies have a long history of contributing to public health in different countries, including in harm minimization and smoking cessation, but are to date underused for delivering physical activity interventions . 

• To maximize impact, pharmacy-based interventions need support, including pharmacist training, interprofessional and intersectoral collaboration, and standardized tools to objectively measure physical activity and outcomes. 

Auteur: : Ruben Viegas¹, Dr. Filipa Alves da Costa¹, Dr. Romeu Mendes^2,3

Affiliation: ¹Research Institute for Medicines (iMED), Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon,  Lisboa, Portugal; ²EPIUnit ITR, Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal; ³Public Health Unit, Local Health Unit of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal