Association of Longitudinal Activity Measures and Diabetes Risk: An Analysis From the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program

Context Prior studies of the relationship between physical activity and incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) relied primarily on questionnaires at a single time point. Objective We sought to investigate the relationship between physical activity and incident T2DM with an innovative approach using data from commercial wearable devices linked to electronic health records in a real-world population. Methods Using All of Us participants' accelerometer data from their personal Fitbit devices, we used a time-varying Cox proportional hazards models with repeated measures of physical activity for the outcome of incident T2DM. We evaluated for effect modification with age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and sedentary time using multiplicative interaction terms. Results From 5677 participants in the All of Us Research Program (median age 51 years; 74% female; 89% White), there were 97 (2%) cases of incident T2DM over a median follow-up period of 3.8 years between 2010 to 2021. In models adjusted for age, sex, and race, the hazard of incident diabetes was reduced by 44% (95% CI, 15%-63%; P = 0.01) when comparing those with an average daily step count of 10 700 to those with 6000. Similar benefits were seen comparing groups based on average duration of various intensities of activity (eg, lightly active, fairly active, very active). There was no evidence for effect modification by age, sex, BMI, or sedentary time. Conclusion Greater time in any type of physical activity intensity was associated with lower risk of T2DM irrespective of age, sex, BMI, or sedentary time.

Automated summary

This study used data from commercial wearable devices and electronic health records to investigate the relationship between physical activity and incident type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in a real-world population. The results showed that increased time spent in any type of physical activity was associated with a lower risk of T2DM, regardless of age, sex, BMI, or sedentary time.