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Lifestyle and Psychosocial Patterns and Diabetes Incidence Among Women with and Without Obesity: a Prospective Latent Class Analysis

Prevention Science volume 21, pages 850–860 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

We conducted latent class analyses to identify women with homogeneous combinations of lifestyle and behavioral variables and tested whether latent classes were prospectively associated with diabetes incidence for women with or without baseline obesity. A total of 64,710 postmenopausal women aged 50–79 years without prevalent diabetes at baseline (years 1993–1998) were followed until 2018 with a mean follow-up of 14.6 years (sd = 6.4). Lifestyle variables included smoking, diet quality, physical activity, and sleep quality. Psychosocial variables included social support, depression, and optimism. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models tested associations between latent classes and diabetes incidence controlling for age, race/ethnicity, and education. During follow-up, 8076 (12.4%) women developed diabetes. For women without baseline obesity, five latent classes were identified. Compared with a lower risk referent, diabetes incidence was higher in classes characterized by high probability of multiple lifestyle and psychosocial risks (HR = 1.45; 95% CI 1.28, 1.64), poor diet and exercise (HR = 1.23; 95% CI 1.13, 1.33), and psychosocial risks alone (HR = 1.20; 95% CI 1.12, 1.29). For women with baseline obesity, four latent classes were identified. Compared with a lower risk referent, diabetes incidence was higher for women with obesity in classes characterized by high probability of multiple lifestyle and psychosocial risks (HR = 1.48; 95% CI 1.32, 1.66), poor diet and exercise (HR = 1.32; 95% CI 1.19, 1.47), and intermediate probabilities of multiple risks (HR = 1.17; 95% CI 1.05, 1.30). Diabetes prevention efforts that focus on diet and exercise may benefit from attention to how lifestyle behaviors interact with psychosocial variables to increase diabetes risks, and conversely, how psychological or social resources may be leveraged with lifestyle changes to reduce the risk for women with and without obesity.

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Funding

The WHI program is funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, US Department of Health and Human Services through contracts HHSN268201600018C, HHSN268201600001C, HHSN268201600002C, HHSN268201600003C, and HHSN268201600004C.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Michael Hendryx

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Paul Dinh & Juhua Luo

  3. Department of Applied Health Science, School of Public Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Angela Chow

  4. Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, Oakland, CA, USA

    Candyce H. Kroenke

  5. Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Melanie Hingle

  6. Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, CA, USA

    Aladdin H. Shadyab

  7. Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis School of Medicine, Davis, CA, USA

    Lorena Garcia

  8. MedStar Health Research Institute, Hyattsville, MD, USA

    Barbara V. Howard

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  1. Michael Hendryx
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  2. Paul Dinh
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  3. Angela Chow
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  4. Candyce H. Kroenke
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  6. Aladdin H. Shadyab
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  7. Lorena Garcia
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  9. Juhua Luo
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Correspondence to Michael Hendryx.

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The research involved human participants. The study was approved by Institutional Review Boards at all 40 participating clinical centers and at the coordinating center. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (WHI Clinical Coordinating Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Hendryx, M., Dinh, P., Chow, A. et al. Lifestyle and Psychosocial Patterns and Diabetes Incidence Among Women with and Without Obesity: a Prospective Latent Class Analysis. Prev Sci 21, 850–860 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01130-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-020-01130-6

Keywords

  • Latent class analysis
  • Lifestyle
  • Postmenopausal
  • Psychosocial risks
  • Type 2 diabetes