Exploring the relationship between exercise and diabetes risk in a prediabetes population

The global incidence of prediabetes is on the rise, with an estimated 5 to 10% of individuals expected to transition to diabetes. We investigated factors associated with the progression of prediabetes to diabetes. Our primary data source was the Taiwan Biobank (TWB). The main outcome was the development of diabetes during the follow-up period among individuals who were initially diagnosed with prediabetes. We included 4,958 participants from the TWB, who were divided into four groups based on their levels of exercise. The exercise status of participants was assessed based on questionnaire responses collected during the enrollment and follow-up phases. Participants were categorized into one of the following groups: no exercise, transition from no exercise to exercise, transition from exercise to no exercise, and regular exercise. We used multiple logistic regression to establish the analysis model, which comprised 2,891 women and 2,067 men. The exercise group, comprising individuals who consistently engaged in exercise both at enrollment and during the follow-up period, exhibited a lower risk of developing diabetes (odds ratio [OR] = 0.755; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.640-0.892) compared to the no exercise group. When stratified by gender, the exercise group remained significantly associated with a reduced risk of diabetes in both women (OR = 0.752, 95% CI = 0.602-0.940) and men (OR = 0.762, 95% CI = 0.591-0.982). This study provides evidence of a significant association between maintaining regular exercise habits and a lower risk of diabetes among Taiwanese adults with prediabetes.