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Lifestyle changes reduced mortality, diabetes rate in adults with IGT
The potential for weight loss and exercise to prevent deaths from cardiovascular disease and all-causes in adults with impaired glucose tolerance is clearer, according to research published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
Results from the Da Qing Diabetes Prevention Study — led by Guangwei Li, MD, of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, and colleagues — suggest that lifestyle interventions reduce death rates in high-risk people.
The randomized controlled trial looked at 577 adults in China with IGT to determine the primary outcomes of CVD mortality, all-cause mortality and incidence of diabetes in the intention-to-treat population.
Researchers assigned 439 patients to intervention clinics (changes to diet, exercise or both) and 138 patients to control clinics in a study that lasted for 6 years, with 23 years of follow-up. During the follow-up, 174 participants died (121 in the intervention group and 53 in the control group).
Cumulative incidence of CVD mortality was 11.9% (95% CI, 8.8-15) in the intervention group vs. 19.6% (95% CI, 12.9-26.3) in the control group (HR=0.59; 95% CI, 0.36-0.96). Death from all causes was 28.1% (95% CI, 23.9-32.4) in the intervention group vs. 38.4% (95% CI, 30.3-46.5) in the control group (HR=0.71; 95% CI, 0.51-0.99). Incidence of diabetes was 72.6% (95% CI, 68.4-76·8) in the intervention group vs. 89.9% (95% CI, 84.9-94.9) in the control group (HR=0.55; 95% CI, 0.4-0.76).
“These findings emphasise the long-term clinical benefits of lifestyle intervention for patients with impaired glucose tolerance and provide further justification for adoption of lifestyle interventions as public health measures to control the consequences of diabetes,” the researchers wrote.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.