Vol-5 Issue-6 2019 IJARIIE-ISSN(O)-2395-4396 11085 www.ijariie.com 974 Compliance to physical activity recommendations amongst type 2 diabetic patients at Thika Level 5 Hospital, Kiambu County, Kenya Wanyoike, Peter Kamau 1 *, Titus Kahiga 2 , Albert Gachau 3 1 Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Kenyatta University, Kenya 2 Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Kenyatta University, Kenya 3 Department of Pathology, Kenyatta University, Kenya ABSTRACT Abundant literature supports the beneficial effects of physical activity for improving and maintaining type 2 diabetic patient’s glycaemic levels. Patient compliance to lifestyle modifications is difficult to initiate and sustain. Descriptive cross-sectional design was used to study 228 type 2 diabetic patients at Thika Level 5 Hospital. Systematic sampling technique was used. Data was collected using a researcher-administered structured questionnaire. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 25.0 and involved univariate and bivariate analysis. Chi- square were used to test the significance of the association between the dependent and independent variables (p<0.05). The study findings revealed that SE=0.845) and a kurtosis of -0.546(SE=1.741), 55.8% complied with exercise lifestyle recommendations. Employment status (p value=0.045); age (p=0.019) and education (p=0.045) were significantly associated with compliance with exercise. Majority of respondents 207(86.3%) understood that both gentle aerobic exercise and health dietary habits play role in diabetic management. A significant number of female 111(88.1%) and 110(87.3%) and males 99(86.8%) and 99(86.8%) perceived gentle aerobic has role in management of type 2 diabetes and control of sugar respectively. Being/having too busy schedule 129(53.8%) and weather especially during cold seasons 127(52.9%) were cited as most common barriers to complying with exercise. All stakeholders including clinicians, dietitians, health educationists and policy makers should be made aware by providers about the alarmingly high proportion of non-compliance to physical activity advices among diabetic population in Thika. Physical activity advices should be tailored to individual with particular focus on gender, marital status, and socioeconomic status. Keywords: Diabetes Mellitus, diabetic patients, dietary habits, physical activity lifestyle. 1. INTRODUCTION Diabetes Mellitus is a disorder caused by the total (or relative) absence of insulin, which manifests clinically as an elevated blood glucose [1]. The incidence of diabetes, especially type 2, is rapidly growing in the world. In 1985, an estimated 30 million people suffered with this chronic disease, which, by the end of 2006, had increased to 230 million, representing 6% of the world population [2]. Of this number, 80% is found in the developing world [3]. Glucose is obtained from carbohydrates and its metabolism is controlled by a hormone called insulin which is produced by the beta cells of islets of langerhans of the pancreas and failure to its production leads to diabetes mellitus, [4] For a long time, Africa was considered safe from many of the diseases that are called “diseases of affluence,” which had high incidences in the developed countries. Similarly, there was a time when Africa was thought to be a continent, relatively free of diabetes mellitus illnesses. This has changed significantly in Africa with diabetes becoming a common disease in this continent, this situation remained virtually static till the 1990s [5]. Dietary habits and sedentary lifestyle (inactivity), residence, environmental factors, along with racial and ethnic puzzle of this disease have led experts in this field to posit that a common risk factor may be genetic