title: Effectiveness of yoga program in the management of diabetes using community health workers in the urban slums of Bangalore city: A non-randomized controlled trial.
abstract: METHODS
  Nonrandomized controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nonrandomized controlled trial. This was an interventional study that was conducted in 4 slums of Bengaluru. Of the 256 diabetes participants, only 109 people agreed to participate in the program. Of 109 people, 52 people agreed to participate in the intervention (agreed to learn and practice Yoga) while the remaining 57 people were assigned to nonintervention group. Randomization and blinding could not be done.
  The study was conducted with objective of assessing the effectiveness of Yoga, Pranayama, and Sudarshan Kriya in the community-based management of diabetes mellitus. The primary outcome variable was Hb1Ac and secondary outcome variables were systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), adherence to medication, and changes in lifestyle.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study was conducted for 40 days. Community health workers made a total of 6 visits during the study. All the 109 participants were available for weekly follow-up. There were no drop outs among the study population. Statistically significant change was seen in the consumption of vegetable (χ2= 15.326,P< 0.005), fruits (χ2= 16.207,P< 0.005), salty food (χ2= 14.823,P< 0.005), bakery food (χ2= 10.429,P< 0.005) and fried food (χ2= 15.470,P< 0.005), adherence to metformin (χ2= 41.780,P< 0.005) and other medication(χ2= 21.871,P< 0.005) and proportion of patients with DBP under control (χ2= 9.396,P< 0.005) and proportion of people with glucose random blood sugar under control (χ2= 29.693,P< 0.005) between the two groups following the intervention. Statistically significant change was also seen in the proportion of people with SBP/DBP ≤140/90 (χ2= 10.635,P< 0.005) between the two groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Yoga program was successful in improving dietary practices and medication adherence and in increasing the proportion of diabetics and hypertensive patients under control.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, St Philomena Hospital, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India; Department of Family Medicine, PMU, Art of Living Foundation, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Hemavathi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dasappa
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health, St. John's Medical College, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Farah Naaz
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Fathima
authors.affiliation: Project Management Unit, Art of Living Foundation, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Rugmani
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prabhakar
keywords: Community health workers; Yoga; diabetes