More steps taken in a day, especially at a higher intensity, may decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes in older women, suggests a prospective cohort study.

Researchers reported that the association between daily stepping and diabetes was not significantly modified by body mass index (BMI) or other common diabetes risk factors, thus indicating that the link is highly generalizable. They assessed data from 4,838 older, community-living women in the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health Study. At the time of recruitment, women did not have physician-diagnosed diabetes and had a mean age of 78.9 years. The study participants took an average of 3,729 steps per day, divided roughly evenly between light and moderate-vigorous intensity. After a median of 5.7 years of follow-up, 8.1% of women developed diabetes. According to the least-adjusted model, there was a 14% reduction in diabetes risk per 2,000 steps (hazard ratio, 0.86), while a second model that adjusted for more confounding variables, noted a 12% reduction in diabetes risk per 2,000 steps (HR, 0.88). The final model, which added BMI, revealed a 10% risk reduction; however, it was not statistically significant (HR, 0.90). The findings are published in Diabetes Care… (Medscape)