Media release

From: American College of Physicians

‘Weekend warriors’ with diabetes have a 33% lower risk of cardiovascular mortality
All-cause mortality risk lowered when persons with diabetes engage in any amount of physical activity 

A prospective cohort study examined the associations of different physical activity patterns with all-cause, cardiovascular (CV) and cancer mortality among adults with diabetes. The study found that weekend warrior and regular activity patterns meeting current physical activity recommendations were associated with similarly reduced risks for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality compared to physical inactivity, demonstrating the importance of any physical activity for people with diabetes. The results are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Capital Medical University, and colleagues studied data from 51,650 adults with self-reported diabetes who participated in the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) between 1997 and 2018. Current guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) distributed across a minimum of three days. Participants were categorized into four activity patterns: inactive (no reported MVPA); insufficiently active (MVPA less than 150 minutes per week); weekend warrior (MVPA 150 or more minutes per week across one to two sessions); and regularly active (MVPA 150 or more minutes per week across at least three sessions). The researchers found that insufficiently active, weekend warrior, and regularly active participants had lower risks for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality compared to inactive participants. Weekend warriors and regularly active participants had a 21% and 17% lower all-cause mortality risk and 33% and 19% lower risks of cardiovascular mortality, respectively, compared with inactive participants. There were fewer differences by cancer mortality compared with physical inactivity.