Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33256704›Full record

ArticleBMC public health2020

Daily step count and incident diabetes in community-dwelling 70-year-olds: a prospective cohort study.

Marcel Ballin, Peter Nordström, Johan Niklasson, Antti Alamäki, Joan Condell, Salvatore Tedesco, Anna Nordström

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
28citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
4.0field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

28 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 50 citations in OpenAlex.

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  4. Association Between Daily Steps Measured by Accelerometry and Diabetes in ELSA-Brasil Participants.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 5 institutions in 5 countries.

Marcel BallinDepartment of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Unit of Geriatric Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. marcel.ballin@umu.se.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9638-7208
Peter NordströmDepartment of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Unit of Geriatric Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Johan NiklassonDepartment of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Unit of Geriatric Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Antti AlamäkiDepartment of Physiotherapy, Karelia University of Applied Sciences, Joensuu, Finland.
Joan CondellSchool of Computing, Engineering and Intelligent Systems, Ulster University, Londonderry, UK.
Salvatore TedescoTyndall National Institute, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.
Anna NordströmDepartment of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Section of Sustainable Health, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Umeå University · SEKarelia University of Applied Sciences · FIUiT The Arctic University of Norway · NOUniversity College Cork · IEUniversity of Ulster · GB

Funding

Vetenskapsrådet 2016-02589
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOlder adults with diabetes take fewer steps per day than those without diabetes. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the association of daily step count with incident diabetes in community-dwelling 70-year-olds.

methodsThis prospective cohort study included N = 3055 community-dwelling 70-year-olds (52% women) who participated in a health examination in Umeå, Sweden during 2012-2017, and who were free from diabetes at baseline. Daily step count was measured for 1 week using Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers. Cases of diabetes were collected from the Swedish National Patient Register. The dose-response association was evaluated graphically using a flexible parametric model, and hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using Cox regressions.

resultsDuring a mean follow-up of 2.6 years, diabetes was diagnosed in 81 participants. There was an inverse nonlinear dose-response association between daily step count and incident diabetes, with a steep decline in risk of diabetes from a higher daily step count until around 6000 steps/day. From there, the risk decreased at a slower rate until it leveled off at around 8000 steps/day. A threshold of 4500 steps/day was found to best distinguish participants with the lowest risk of diabetes, where those taking ≥ 4500 steps/day, had 59% lower risk of diabetes, compared to those taking fewer steps (HR, 0.41, 95% CI, 0.25-0.66). Adjusting for visceral adipose tissue (VAT) attenuated the association (HR, 0.64, 95% CI, 0.38-1.06), which was marginally altered after further adjusting for sedentary time, education and other cardiometabolic risk factors and diseases (HR, 0.58, 95% CI, 0.32-1.05).

conclusionsA higher daily step count is associated with lower risk of incident diabetes in community-dwelling 70-year-olds. The greatest benefits occur at the lower end of the activity range, and much earlier than 10,000 steps/day. With the limitation of being an observational study, these findings suggest that promoting even a modest increase in daily step count may help to reduce the risk of diabetes in older adults. Because VAT appears to partly mediate the association, lifestyle interventions targeting diabetes should apart from promoting physical activity also aim to prevent and reduce central obesity.

Indexed as

Independent LivingAgedDiabetes MellitusFemaleHumansIncidenceMaleProspective StudiesSwedenWalkingAccelerometryMetabolic syndromeNon-communicable diseaseObesityPhysical activityVisceral adipose tissueWalking

Identifiers

PMID33256704
PMCPMC7706282
OpenAlexW3107195343

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.