Exercise Saves Lives in Diabetes

TOPLINE:

Meeting guideline-recommended physical activity levels may alleviate the increased risk for all-cause and heart disease mortality associated with excessive sitting time in adults with diabetes.

METHODOLOGY:

• It is unknown whether high levels of physical activity can help reduce the harmful effects of prolonged sitting on mortality outcomes in patients with diabetes.
• Researchers conducted a population-based, prospective cohort study to investigate the association between sitting time and all-cause and heart disease mortality in adults with diabetes identified from the 2007 to 2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.
• They interviewed participants to collect information on their sitting time and the frequency and duration of moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity using the global physical activity questionnaire.
• Sitting time was categorized into four groups: < 4 hours, 4 to < 6 hours, 6 to < 8 hours, and ≥ 8 h/d.
• Participants were classified as inactive (< 10 min/wk), insufficiently active (10-149 min/wk), and active (≥ 150 min/wk) on the basis of the extent of moderate to vigorous physical activity performed.

TAKEAWAY:

• Over a median follow-up duration of 5.8 years, 1278 all-cause deaths and 354 heart disease deaths were reported among 6335 adults with diabetes (mean age, 59.6 years; 48.3% women).
• Compared with shorter sitting times (< 4 h/d), longer sitting time (≥ 8 h/d) was associated with a 73% and 74% increased risk for all-cause mortality in inactive (P < .001) and insufficiently active adults (P = .004), respectively.
• However, sitting ≥ 8 h/d was not linked to an increased risk for all-cause mortality in active adults.
• Sitting ≥ 8 h/d was also associated with an increased risk for heart disease mortality in inactive or insufficiently active adults (hazard ratio, 3.18; P < .001) but not in active adults.

IN PRACTICE:

“For adults with diabetes, clinical practitioners may emphasize the importance of meeting guideline-recommended physical activity levels as an alternative strategy to interventions to reduce sitting time,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Wen Dai and Sandra S. Albrecht, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City. It was published online in Diabetes Care.

LIMITATIONS:

Self-reported sitting time and physical activity levels may be prone to measurement errors. Sitting behaviors and physical activity levels were evaluated only at baseline, and any longitudinal changes could not be recorded. The study did not differentiate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

DISCLOSURES:

The study was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.