Aims/objectives: The study’s aim was to assess the association between different levels of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and assess the association between socio-economic status (SES) and distribution of LTPA. Methods: The study was based on the Malmo Diet and Cancer Study cohort that included participants aged 44-74 years at enrolment. Demographic and covariate data from the baseline questionnaire (1991-1996) and outcomes of interest (2014) linking the cohort data to various medical and population registers was used. LTPA was assessed using a standard questionnaire as a sum of products of 17 predefined individual activities (assessed as minutes spent weekly per activity in the previous year) with their intensity factors (Metabolic Equivalent or MET) and reported as MET-hours per week. Chi-square test was used to assess the proportions of different socioeconomic groups in the various LTPA categories and Cox regression utilized to model the association between LTPA and incidence of T2DM, adjusted for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), smoking, education level and occupation. Results: There were significant differences in the distribution of LTPA levels across the different socioeconomic groups. Moderate LTPA (7.5-15 MET-hours/week) was not significantly associated with T2DM risk (HR=0.92, 95% CI 0.81-1.05), vigorous (15-25 MET-hours/week) and strenuous (25-50 MET-hours/week) levels of LTPA were associated with reduced incidence of T2DM (HR=0.83, 95% CI 0.74-0.94) and (HR=0.81,95% CI 0.72-0.91) respectively. LTPA beyond 50 MET-hours/week had no added benefit (HR=0.84, 95% CI 0.74-0.96). Conclusion: The study demonstrated the benefits of different LTPA levels in reducing the risk of T2DM in the MDC cohort. Moderate activity was not significantly associated while vigorous activity and above was significantly associated with reduced risk but there was no added benefit for LTPA beyond 50 MET-hours per week. The amount of LTPA was significantly related to SES.This research was conducted to help understand how being active helps prevent diabetes and also how differently people from different social classes participate in leisure activities. The research showed that light activity (referred to moderate in the study) was not effective in preventing diabetes. However, vigorous and strenuous levels of activity were shown to help prevent diabetes but there was no added benefit of being active above strenuous levels. Exercise even in little amounts is beneficial to those who are overweight and obese. Social class affects people’s ability to participate in leisure activities and a low social class increases one risk to get diabetes. People who smoke or are former smokers also have a high risk of having diabetes compare to those who have never smokes. In conclusion, we found that being active is beneficial for health
