Moving Towards Universal Health Coverage of India and Management of Chronic Conditions: A Critical Review of Pre and Post Studies Related to Diabetes and Yoga Intervention

The diabetes disease burden in LMICs underlines the need for conducting more research directed towards addressing this disease among the countries that are most affected by it. Several interventional studies have empirically supported the role of yoga in the management of diabetes. We have specifically reviewed the pre and post-interventional studies among diabetics for scrutinizing the methodological rigour of such studies. A comprehensive search of research paper was done using sources such as PubMed, Google scholar and Svyasa digital database. The selected papers were screened by title and abstract while the full text was checked to decide the inclusion. This study review unpacks the methodological rigour of 7 eligible studies that navigate the topic of yoga and its relevance for diabetes under pre and post-study designs. This critical review underlines the methodological areas that need to be strengthened such as the need to standardize the yoga intervention by providing adequate justification for employing certain asanas and pranayama, the sequence in which it is administered, supervision throughout the intervention period etc. Such standardization will help generalize the findings of yoga and enhance its application as an effective intervention to mitigate the health problems resulting from diabetes.