Leisure time physical activity and the risk of type 2 diabetes in men and women from the general population

The aim of this study was to examine sex-specific associations between leisure time physical activity and incident type 2 diabetes in a representative population sample in Germany.

The study was based on 4,069 men and 4,034 women (aged 25 to 74 years) who participated in one of the three MONICA Augsburg surveys between 1984 and 1995. Subjects were free of diabetes at baseline. Incident cases of type 2 diabetes were assessed in 1998 using a follow-up questionnaire. Sex-specific hazard ratios (HRs) were estimated from Cox proportional hazard models.

A total of 145 cases of incident type 2 diabetes among men and 82 among women were registered during the mean follow-up period of 7.4 years. In both sexes, a high leisure time physical activity level was associated with a reduced risk of incident type 2 diabetes. After adjustment for confounding factors, the HR in highly active men (more than 2 h physical activity per week in summer and winter) was 0.83 (95% CI: 0.50–1.36). In contrast, highly active women had the lowest risk of type 2 diabetes even after multivariable adjustment (HR 0.24; 95% CI: 0.06–0.98). In subgroup analyses, after multivariable adjustment, the protective effect of moderate to high physical activity was significant in women with a BMI below 30 kg/m² (HR 0.24; 95% CI: 0.09–0.65) but not in women with a BMI of 30 kg/m² or higher (HR 0.97; 95% CI: 0.44–2.11).

Leisure time physical activity is effective in preventing type 2 diabetes, especially in nonobese women, in the general population.