04 Apr Lifestyle Interventions Reduced Risk of Diabetes, Cardiac Mortality
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof Guangwei Li MD
Department of Endocrinology
China-Japan Friendship Hospital
Center of Endocrinology and Cardiovascular Disease, National Center of Cardiology & Fuwai Hospital, Beijing, China
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Our study first shows that a six-year period of lifestyle intervention in Chinese people with IGT reduced the incidence of diabetes over a protracted time period and was ultimately associated with a significant reduction in total and cardio-vascular disease mortality. This reduction in mortality appears to be mediated in part by the delay in onset of diabetes resulting from the lifestyle interventions.
MedicalResearch.com: Were any of the findings unexpected?
Answer: The effect lifestyle intervention on mortality seems greater among women than among men although reasons for this difference are obscure. It is possible that:
a). The effect of more smoking in the men overwhelmed and masked a beneficial effect of the intervention on death.
b). Women in the lifestyle arms may have maintained their adherence to lifestyle intervention after the active intervention period more than men.
MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Answer:
a). Type 2 diabetes can be prevented.
b). The group based lifestyle interventions over a 6 year period have long-term effects on prevention of diabetes beyond the period of active intervention.
c). Benefits of the intervention significantly extended to a favorable reduction of mortality.
d). These results emphasize the long term benefits of the intervention and reinforce the overall value and importance of lifestyle interventions as public health strategies to prevent diabetes.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Answer: Some group-based individualized intervention (ie lifestyle intervention combined with controlling smoking and blood pressure) should be done in pre-diabetes population targeting the reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Citation:
Cardiovascular mortality, all-cause mortality, and diabetes incidence after lifestyle intervention for people with impaired glucose tolerance in the Da Qing Diabetes Prevention Study: A 23-year follow-up study
Li G, et al
Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol 2014; DOI: 10.1016/S2213-8587(14)70057-9.
Last Updated on April 4, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD