Association of Adiposity, Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Exercise Practice with the Prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in Brazilian Elderly Women

Background: Diabetes incidence in people with advanced age is increasing at an alarming rate, and for this reason the screening of high-risk individuals such as elderly women is critically important. Objective: To analyze the association of adiposity, cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise practice with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in elderly Brazilian women. Methods: Participated of this cross sectional study 1,059 elderly women (mean 69.5 yr; SD 6.1), who self-reported family history of cardiovascular disease, smoking status, hypertension, and T2D diagnosed previously by a physician. The following independent variables were assessed: exercise practice, body mass index, waist circumference, and cardiorespiratory fitness. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between each independent variable with T2D using adjusted-models. Results: T2D prevalence was 16%. General and central adiposity were directly associated with T2D, whereas cardiorespiratory fitness was inversely related with T2D. The joint effect of exercise practice and central adiposity showed that inactive women had higher odds ratio for T2D when compared with active ones, within the same WC group. Inactive women with WC ≥ 94.0 cm had an odds ratio of 5.8 (95%IC 1.3-25.3). Conclusions: A direct positive association was found between general and central adiposity, as well as an inverse relation between CRF and exercise practice with T2D. Elderly women who practice exercise regularly had lower odds for T2D. Health professionals should encourage individuals of all ages to engage on regular exercise practice, which could reduce body fatness and may be beneficial in reducing the prevalence of T2D in older ages.