Characteristics of treatment responses to physical exercise and diet in diabetic peripheral artery disease patients: a systematic review

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects walking performance and increases risk of amputation. Diabetes mellitus (DM) not only contributes to disease progression but may also affect treatment effects. Though physical exercise is crucial in PAD management and diet optimization may reduce risk of atherosclerosis, their effects and variations in diabetic PAD patients remain unclear. The present systematic review aims to summarize features of treatment response to physical exercise and diet management in diabetic PAD patients, and provide crucial information on optimization of PAD management of these patients in clinical practice.

A systematic review was performed on human studies investigating effects of physical exercise and diet on development and improvement of diabetic PAD patients by searching PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science and CINAHL. The review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA). The certainty level of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE).