Not all steps are equal: independent prospective associations of stepping volume and patterns with incident type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Maastricht study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Stepping has been associated with reduced risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D), but existing prospective studies focus largely on average stepping volume (steps per day or week) and ignore important differences in how stepping is accumulated. Here, we examined independent associations of stepping volume and within and between day variability, with incident T2D.

Methods

Participants (n = 4594, 40-75y) without preexisting T2D from The Maastricht Study wore an activPAL3 accelerometer (6-7 days). Prospective associations of stepping volume (steps/day) with incident T2D were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models with restricted cubic splines, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, education, smoking, CVD, sedentary time and diet. Four indices of between-day (i-iii below) and w

SUBMITTER: Pulsford RM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12628916 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature