Lifestyle Interventions Lower Cardiovascular Disease in Chinese Adults with IGT—Thirty-Year Follow-Up of Da Qing Diabetes Prevention Study

Lifestyle interventions can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes (T2DM) but their long-term effect on cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains unclear. We assessed the effect of lifestyle interventions on the incidence of CVD events among Chinese adults with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) who participated in the Da Qing Diabetes Prevention Study (DQDPS) and who were followed for up to 30 years after randomization. DQDPS was a 6-year clinical trial conducted in Da Qing, China from 1986 to 1992 in which 576 adults with IGT were randomized by clinic to a control group (138) or one of three lifestyle intervention groups (438) (diet or exercise or both). After the 6-year active intervention, participants were followed to assess their first CVD events until December 31st 2016. CVD was defined as fatal or nonfatal CVD, which included myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, stroke, and amputation. The intervention effect on CVD was assessed using Cox proportional hazards analysis. 542 (94.1%) of the original participants had data for CVD events. 192 in the combined intervention group and 79 in the control group had a first CVD event during the follow-up. The 30-year cumulative incidence of CVD was 51.8% (95% CI 47.1-56.5) in the intervention group and 65.7% (95% CI 57.8-73.6) in the control group. CVD incidence per 1000 person-years was 21.8 (95% CI 18.8-25.1) in the intervention group compared to 29.0 (95% CI 23.0-36.2) in the control. After accounting for clinic cluster, the intervention reduced the risk of the first CVD event by 27% (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.55-0.96; p=0.024).Our study is the first to show that a lifestyle intervention program in persons with IGT significantly reduces the incidence of CVD. Our results provide further justification to adopt lifestyle interventions as public health measures to prevent T2DM. Disclosure Q. Gong: None. P. Zhang: None. J. Ma: None. J. Wang: None. Y. An: None. Y.J. Cheng: None. B. Zhang: None. H. Li: None. Y. Chen: None. Y. Hu: None. E.W. Gregg: None. P.H. Bennett: None. G. Li: None.