Physical activity and sedentary behaviors in relation to the risk of progression from gestational diabetes to type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study

Thursday, November 07, 2013 — Poster Session II
12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.	FAES Academic Center (Upper-Level Terrace)	NICHD	EPIG-1

Authors

W Bao
DK Tobias
K Bowers
FB Hu
A Vaag
J Chavarro
LG Grunnet
J Mills
A Liu
M Kiely
C Zhang

Abstract

Women who develop gestational diabetes (GDM) have a substantially increased risk for type 2 diabetes (T2DM). However, little is known about the modifiable risk factors in determining the progression from GDM to T2DM. We followed up 4,513 women in the Nurses' Health Study II who had a history of GDM from 1991 to 2007. The duration and intensity of physical activities and time spent on sedentary behaviors were repeatedly measured in 1991, 1997, 2001 and 2005. The relative risks (RRs) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards models. During 59,361 person-years of follow-up, 615 incident T2DM cases were documented. After adjustment for age, parity, non-dietary and dietary factors, the multivariate RRs across increasing quartiles of total physical activity were 1.00, 0.83 (0.66-1.05), 0.59 (0.46-0.76), and 0.50 (0.38-0.66) (P for trend < 0.001); the association persisted significant after additional adjustment for body mass index. The multivariate RRs for T2DM associated with television watching of 0-5, 6-10, 11-20, and > 20 hours/week were 1.00, 1.28 (1.02-1.59), 1.42 (1.11-1.81), and 1.71 (1.23-2.38), respectively (P for trend < 0.001). In conclusion, an increase in physical activity and a reduction in time spent watching television may help lower the risk of progression from GDM to T2DM.