Longer time spent in any physical activity tied to lower T2DM risk

The longer the duration individuals engage in any type of physical activity intensity, the lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), regardless of age, sex, body mass index (BMI), or sedentary time, according to a recent study.

Data from commercial wearable devices linked to electronic health records were used to assess the relationship between physical activity and incident T2DM in a real-world population.

The authors utilized a time-varying Cox proportional hazards models with repeated measures of physical activity for the outcome of incident T2DM. Using multiplicative interaction terms, they explored the effect modification with age, sex, BMI, and sedentary time.

A total of 5,677 participants in the All of Us Research Program (median age 51 tears, 74 percent female, 89 percent White) were included in the analysis. Of these, 97 (2 percent) had incident T2DM over a median follow-up of 3.8 years between 2010 and 2021.

Models adjusted for age, sex, and race showed a 44-percent reduction (95 percent confidence interval, 15‒63; p=0.01) in the risk of incident T2DM when comparing individuals with an average daily step count of 10,700 to those with 6,000.

Notably, benefits were similar when groups were compared based on the average duration of various intensities of activity (eg, lightly active, fairly active, very active). No evidence for effect modification by age, sex, BMI, or sedentary time was found.

“Greater time in any type of physical activity intensity was associated with lower risk of T2DM irrespective of age, sex, BMI, or sedentary time,” the authors said.