Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Publication Date
8-1-2025
Journal
Preventive Medicine
DOI
10.1016/j.ypmed.2025.108312
PMID
40409465
Abstract
Objective: We assessed whether timing of physical activity, independent from the total activity amount, - which we refer to as chronoactivity - is associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk.
Methods: We included UK Biobank participants with valid accelerometry data (UK, exposure measurement: 2013-2015, follow-up till November 2023) and without diabetes mellitus at baseline (N = 89,439; mean age: 61.7 [SD:7.9] years). Relative hourly physical activity was calculated by dividing the average hourly clock time physical activity by the average hourly physical activity in a week. Participants were categorized into different chronoactivity clusters using k-means cluster analysis on relative hourly physical activity. We used multivariable-adjusted cox-proportional hazard regressions to examine associations between relative hourly physical activity, chronoactivity clusters and T2D, adjusted for potential confounders, including BMI as a potential mediator.
Results: Over 7.8 (interquartile range: 7.2 to 8.3) years of follow-up, 2240 participants developed T2D. Higher relative hourly activity amounts during late morning (8:00-10:59) and late afternoon (15:00-15:59, 17:00-17:59) were associated with approximately 5 %-10 % lower T2D risk. Four clusters of chronoactivity patterns were identified, notably: midday (reference), early morning peak, late morning peak, and evening peak. Compared with participants exhibiting a midday pattern, those with a late morning peak had a lower T2D risk (Hazards Ratio: 0.88, 95 %CI: 0.79, 0.98). Overall, all observations attenuated after additional BMI adjustment.
Conclusions: Independent of the total amount of physical activity, specific timing of physical activity represents an additional dimension in T2D risk.
Keywords
Humans, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Accelerometry, United Kingdom, Male, Female, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Exercise, Biological Specimen Banks, Aged, Risk Factors, Time Factors, Body Mass Index, UK Biobank, Cohort study, Lifestyle factor, Physical activity, Triaxial accelerometer, Type 2 diabetes
Published Open-Access
yes
Recommended Citation
Feng, Qiuyu; Albalak, Gali; van Dijk, Ko Willems; et al., "Accelerometer-Measured Chronoactivity and Type 2 Diabetes Risk: A Prospective Study in UK Biobank Participants" (2025). Faculty, Staff and Student Publications. 1347.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/uthsph_docs/1347