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Leisure-time physical activity and risk of type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies

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Abstract

Published articles reported controversial results about the association between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and risk of type 2 diabetes. A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies was conducted to explore the effect of LTPA on the incidence of type 2 diabetes. PubMed and Embase databases were searched from its inception to June 13, 2014. Fixed or random effects models were used to calculate the pooled effect sizes based on between-study heterogeneity that was examined by the Q test and I 2 statistic. A total of eight studies, including 296,395 participants and 10,815 incident cases, were included in this study. Both high-level LTPA [high vs. low: hazard ratio (HR) 0.69, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.61–0.78] and moderate-level LTPA (moderate vs. low: HR 0.79, 95 % CI 0.70–0.89) were associated with decreased incidence of type 2 diabetes. In conclusion, LTPA was significantly associated with decreased risk of diabetes; high-level LTPA is more beneficial in decreasing the incidence of type 2 diabetes than moderate-level LTPA.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by Risk Factor and Intervention Strategy of Life Expectancy in Shandong Province (2013WS0168).

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Correspondence to Aiqiang Xu.

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Pengcheng Huai and Huiju Han have contributed equally to this work.

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Huai, P., Han, H., Reilly, K.H. et al. Leisure-time physical activity and risk of type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies. Endocrine 52, 226–230 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-015-0769-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-015-0769-5

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