Associations of Residential Greenness with Diabetes Mellitus in Chinese Uyghur Adults

Greenness exposure is nominated as a potential beneficial factor for health, but evidence is limited on its diabetes effects. We conducted a cross-sectional study between May and September 2016 in rural areas of northwestern China, including 4670 Uyghur adults, to explore the associations between residential greenness and fasting glucose levels and diabetes prevalence. Fasting glucose levels were determined, and information on covariates was collected by questionnaire. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) were calculated to assess greenness levels. Generalized linear mixed models were applied to evaluate the associations of greenness with fasting glucose levels and diabetes prevalence. The prevalence of diabetes was 11.6%. We found that living in rural areas characterized by increased amounts of greenness was associated with reduced diabetes prevalence (e.g., NDVI(1000m): OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.86, 0.99). Stratified analyses showed that the protective effects of greenness on diabetes prevalence were found only in women (NDVI(1000m): OR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.82, 0.99). However, none of the interaction was statistically significant. Our study suggests that greater residential greenness levels were associated with a lower odds ratio of diabetes prevalence in Xinjiang Uyghur adults. Further well-designed longitudinal studies are needed to confirm our findings.