Simple self-reported behavioral or psychological characteristics as risk factors for future type 2 diabetes in Japanese individuals: Toranomon Hospital Health Management Center Study 14

AIMS/INTRODUCTION: Depression, anger, sleep disorders and cognitive impairment are regarded as presenting a high risk for diabetes. We investigated whether responses to single statements on a self-report questionnaire on the presence of each of these four factors were associated with the development of type 2 diabetes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We investigated 3,211 Japanese individuals without diabetes. Cumulative incidence rate and hazard ratios (HRs) for future type 2 diabetes over 7–13 years were evaluated according to the presence of lack of perseverance, anger, memory loss or sleep disorders. RESULTS: Results of Cox regression analysis showed that lack of perseverance (age- and sex-adjusted HR 1.41, 95% confidence interval 1.07–1.84), anger, (HR 1.51, 95% confidence interval 1.07–2.12) or memory loss (HR 1.47, 95% confidence interval 1.14–1.90) was predictive of the development of diabetes. Even after adjustment for metabolic factors including glycemic measurements, anger was significantly associated with an increased risk of future diabetes. Individuals with both anger and memory loss had a 1.94-fold (95% confidence interval 1.19–3.15) increased risk of type 2 diabetes than those without those two symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Responses to a simple self-report questionnaire as to whether individuals were aware of anger or memory loss were associated with the development of type 2 diabetes independent of traditional risk factors for diabetes in this cohort of Japanese individuals.