Research
Mixed
For prediabetes prevention, neither exercise nor drug interventions show statistically significant mortality benefits compared to control or each other.
Current evidence does not show that exercise or drugs significantly reduce mortality risk in people with prediabetes. Focus on other proven health benefits of exercise (e.g., functional capacity, muscle strength) rather than mortality prevention for this specific group.
ModerateRefutesLOW confidence
Neither exercise nor drug interventions were clearly effective in reducing the odds of mortality in prediabetes... there were also no major detectable differences between any comparator interventions
Why this rating
Very few exercise trials (2 trials, n=1081) limit statistical power.
Source
Comparative effectiveness of exercise and drug interventions on mortality outcomes: metaepidemiological study
Huseyin Naci et al. · BMJ · 2013
DOI 10.1136/bmj.f5577
Meta-analysis · 305 studiesCited 634×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- For secondary prevention of coronary heart disease, exercise interventions provide mortality benefits statistically equivalent to standard drug therapies (statins, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, antiplatelets).Moderate
- For stroke rehabilitation, exercise interventions are significantly more effective than drug interventions (anticoagulants and antiplatelets) in reducing mortality.Limited
- For heart failure treatment, diuretics are more effective than exercise interventions in reducing mortality.Limited
Related findings · Mixed
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