Walking decreased risk of cardiovascular disease mortality in older adults with diabetes

ObjectiveThis study examines the association of walking with mortality in persons with type 2 diabetes compared to those with normal glucose tolerance.Study Design and SettingThis prospective study included community-dwelling adults from the Rancho Bernardo Study aged 50–90 years in 1984–86 who had type 2 diabetes (n = 347) or normal glucose tolerance (n = 1,317). During the 10-year follow up, Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to model time until death from all causes (n = 538), coronary heart disease (CHD, n = 143), other cardiovascular disease (non-CHD CVD, n = 138), and other causes (n = 257) while adjusting for multiple potential confounders.ResultsAfter adjusting for sex, age, smoking, body mass index, alcohol, exercise, history of CHD, and other covariates, adults with diabetes who walked ≥1 mile per day were half as likely to die from all causes combined (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.54; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.33, 0.88), and less than one-fifth as likely to die from non-CHD CVD (HR = 0.19; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.86) compared to adults with diabetes who did not walk. Walking was also protective among adults with normal glucose tolerance (HR = 0.55; 95% CI: 0.32, 0.96).ConclusionResults suggest walking ≥1 mile per day may provide strong protection from all-cause and non-CHD CVD mortality in older adults with diabetes.