Accelerometer-derived “weekend warrior” and regularly active physical activity and incident diabetes

Objective

We aim to investigate associations between moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) patterns and the risk of diabetes.

Methods

This prospective cohort study was based on 85,934 participants in the UK Biobank. We incorporated two thresholds of MVPA, including the guideline-based threshold (≥150 min/week) and the sample median (≥230.4 min/week). Individuals were classified as weekend warrior (WW, i.e., at or above the MVPA threshold and ≥50% of total MVPA over 1–2 days), regularly active (RA, i.e., at or above the MVPA threshold but not WW), and inactive (i.e., below the MVPA threshold). We employed Cox proportional hazards regression models to examine the associations of MVPA patterns with the risk of developing diabetes.

Results

Stratified by MVPA patterns at ≥150 min/week of MVPA, 43.7% (n = 37,594) of participants were classified as having the WW pattern. Compared with the inactive pattern, WW (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.69–0.84) and RA (HR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.56–0.73) patterns were associated with a lower risk of diabetes. Our findings remained consistent by employing the median threshold.

Conclusions

The WW pattern was associated with a similarly lower risk of diabetes as the RA pattern versus the physically inactive pattern.