Physical activity, adiposity, and diabetes risk in middle-aged and older Chinese population: the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study.
OBJECTIVE
Physical activity may modify the association of adiposity with type 2 diabetes. We investigated the independent and joint association of adiposity and physical activity with fasting plasma glucose, impaired fasting glucose, and type 2 diabetes in a Chinese population.


METHODS
Middle-aged and older Chinese (n=28,946, ≥50 years, 72.4%women) from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study were examined in 2003-2008. Multivariable regression was used in a cross-sectional analysis.


RESULTS
BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were positively associated with type 2 diabetes after multiple adjustment, most strongly for WHR with odds ratio (OR) of 3.99 (95% CI 3.60-4.42) for highest compared with lowest tertile. Lack of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, but not walking, was associated with diabetes with an OR of 1.29 (1.17-1.41). The association of moderate-to-vigorous activity with fasting glucose varied with WHR tertiles (P=0.01 for interaction). Within the high WHR tertile, participants who had a lack of moderate-to-vigorous activity had an OR of 3.87 (3.22-4.65) for diabetes, whereas those who were active had an OR of 2.94 (2.41-3.59).


CONCLUSIONS
In this population, WHR was a better measure of adiposity-related diabetes risk than BMI or waist circumference. Higher moderate-to-vigorous activity was associated with lower diabetes risk, especially in abdominally obese individuals.
Qin
Li
L
Department of Epidemiology, University Medical Center of Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Corpeleijn
Eva
E
Jiang
Chaoqiang
C
Thomas
G Neil
GN
Schooling
C Mary
CM
Zhang
Weisen
W
Cheng
Kar Keung
KK
Leung
Gabriel M
GM
Stolk
Ronald P
RP
Lam
Tai Hing
TH
D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology*; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005215:Fasting / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio
D001786:Blood Glucose