Lifestyle and Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis in China: A Case-Control Study

Xi Pan, Miami University

Type 2 diabetes has become a major health problem in China at the beginning of last century. Western literature suggests that lifestyle including active cigarette smoking, heavy alcohol drinking, high carbohydrate intake and being physical inactive is risk of type 2 diabetes. However, similar research is extremely limited among the population in China. This study investigates the effect of lifestyle on type 2 diabetes diagnosis among the middle-aged and older adults in China. A case-control study design with conditional logistic regression is used to analyze the data of the Chinese Health and Nutrition Survey (1997-2009). There are 539 cases matched with 553 controls on gender and age. It is found that active cigarette smoking, high carbohydrate intake and being physically inactive are associated with a higher risk for type 2 diabetes diagnosis among the middle-aged and older Chinese after controlling for socioeconomic status and the geographic area of residence.