Research

Adherence

Sustained increases in accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) over 4 years are associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes in adults with type 2 diabetes, whereas short-term (1-year) changes are not.

To lower your cardiovascular disease risk, you need to maintain a consistent level of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (like brisk walking) for several years, not just a few months. Simply exercising for a year is not enough to see a reduction in risk. Focus on long-term adherence to an active lifestyle rather than short-term bursts.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Increased accelerometry-measured MVPA from baseline to year 4 is associated with decreased risk of CVD outcomes. This suggests the need for long-term engagement in MVPA to reduce the risk of CVD in adults with overweight/obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Look AHEAD Study Group · Diabetes Care · 2022

Why this rating

The study is a post hoc secondary analysis of a large RCT, which reduces the strength of causal inference compared to a pre-specified primary analysis, though the sample size is large.

Source

Association Between Change in Accelerometer-Measured and Self-Reported Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Disease in the Look AHEAD Trial

Look AHEAD Study Group · Diabetes Care · 2022

DOI 10.2337/dc21-1206

rct · n=1978Cited 20×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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