Physical activity and incident diabetes mellitus in postmenopausal women.
OBJECTIVE
This study determined whether the incidence of diabetes is reduced among physically active older women.


METHODS
We assessed physical activity by mailed questionnaire and 12-year incidence of diabetes (ostensibly type 2 diabetes) in a cohort of 34257 women aged 55 to 69 years.


RESULTS
After adjustment for age, education, smoking, alcohol intake, estrogen use, dietary variables, and family history of diabetes, women who reported any physical activity had a relative risk of diabetes of 0.69 (95% confidence interval = 0.63, 0.77) compared with sedentary women.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that physical activity is important for type 2 diabetes prevention among older women.
Folsom
A R
AR
Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55454, USA. folsom@epi.umn.edu
Kushi
L H
LH
Hong
C P
CP
D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007484:Iowa / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D017698:Postmenopause; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012306:Risk