BACKGROUND Weight loss is recommended for overweight and obese individuals with type 2 diabetes based on short-term studies, but long-term effects on cardiovascular disease remain unknown. We examined whether intensive lifestyle intervention for weight loss decreased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in overweight or obese adults with type 2 diabetes. METHODS We randomly assigned 5,145 overweight or obese individuals with type 2 diabetes recruited at 16 US centers to intensive lifestyle intervention (the intervention group), which promoted weight loss through decreased calorie intake and increased physical activity, or diabetes support and education (the control group). The primary outcome was the first post-randomization occurrence of a composite cardiovascular outcome (cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal stroke, or hospitalized angina) over a planned maximum follow-up of 13.5 years. RESULTS The trial was stopped early based on a futility analysis when median follow-up was 9.6 years. Weight loss was greater in the intervention group than the control group throughout (8.6% vs. 0.7% at 1 year; 6.0% vs. 3.5% at study end). Intensive lifestyle intervention also produced greater reductions in hemoglobin A1c and greater initial improvements in fitness and all cardiovascular risk factors, except LDL cholesterol. The primary outcome occurred in 403 patients in the intervention group and in 418 in the control group (1.83/100 person-years and 1.92/100 person-years, respectively; hazard ratio 0.95; 95% CI 0.83 to 1.09, p=0.505). CONCLUSION In our study, intensive lifestyle intervention focused on weight loss did not reduce cardiovascular events in overweight or obese adults with type 2 diabetes. (Funded by the Department of Health and Human Services and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00017953.)

Many studies have shown that hyperinsulinemia and/or insulin resistance are related to various metabolic and physiological disorders including hypertension, dyslipidemia, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. This syndrome has been termed Syndrome X. An important limitation of previous studies has been that they all have been cross sectional, and thus the presence of insulin resistance could be a consequence of the underlying metabolic disorders rather than its cause. We examined the relationship of fasting insulin concentration (as an indicator of insulin resistance) to the incidence of multiple metabolic abnormalities in the 8-yr follow-up of the cohort enrolled in the San Antonio Heart Study, a population-based study of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites. In univariate analyses, fasting insulin was related to the incidence of the following conditions: hypertension, decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, increased triglyceride concentration, and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Hyperinsulinemia was not related to increased low-density lipoprotein or total cholesterol concentration. In multivariate analyses, after adjustment for obesity and body fat distribution, fasting insulin continued to be significantly related to the incidence of decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and increased triglyceride concentrations and to the incidence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Baseline insulin concentrations were higher in subjects who subsequently developed multiple metabolic disorders. These results were not attributable to differences in baseline obesity and were similar in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites. These results support the existence of a metabolic syndrome and the relationship of that syndrome to multiple metabolic disorders by showing that elevations of insulin concentration precede the development of numerous metabolic disorders.

articles epidemiologyWe summed AS soda, coffee, and tea intakes to estimate AS beverage (ASB) consumption, and-among consumers-identified ASB consumption quartiles. Participants using AS sweeteners and/or cereals-but not ASBs-were included in ASB consumption quartile 1. Participants reporting no AS use were categorized "nonusers. "Dieting status and exercise frequency (2) were recorded at baseline and follow-up. In cohort 1 only, baseline 24-h dietary recalls were performed (2). In cohort 2 only, follow-up AS use (present or absent) was ascertained.Physical measurements and demographic data Standard anthropometric measurements were performed (2). A BMI <25 kg/m 2 was categorized normal weight (NW); ≥ 25 and <30 kg/m 2 , overweight (OW); and ≥ 30 kg/m 2 , obese (OB). The latter categories were combined as OW/OB (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m 2 ). Baseline education and occupation were recorded, and occupation-based Duncan socioeconomic index scores (range: 0-96) assigned. Of 3,682 follow-up participants, 3371 (91.6%) had complete data for all variables reported. statistical analysesIncidence of OW/OB (OW/OB inc ) was defined as the percent of baseline NW participants who had become OW/OB by follow-up. Incidence of obesity (OB inc ) was defined as the percent of baseline NWor-OW participants (BMI < 30 kg/m 2 ) who had become OB by follow-up. Change in BMI (ΔBMI) was calculated as BMI at follow-up minus BMI at baseline. Change in exercise frequency (Δexercise) was calculated as the number of exercise sessions per week at follow-up minus the number of sessions per week at baseline. Participants with Δexercise ≥1/week were categorized as "exercising more"; those ≤−1/ week, as "exercising less"; and all others, as "exercising same. " Excess BMI gains in AS users ("users") were calculated as ΔBMI among users minus ΔBMI among nonusers, divided by ΔBMI among nonusers.Means of continuous variables and percentages of categorical variables are presented by baseline AS consumption status. We used logistic regression to adjust odds ratios (ORs) for baseline BMI, as well as gender and ethnicity; baseline age, education, socioeconomic index, exercise frequency, and smoking status; interim change in exercise level; and interim smoking cessation ("demographic/behavioral covariates"), with ordinal categories of AS doses/day as a predictor variable. Analysis of covariance was used to assess associations between ASB consumption category and ΔBMI. In logistic regression and analysis of covariance models, linear trend was assessed by models using the ordinal category of ASB doses/ day as a continuous measure. All statistical calculations were performed using SAS version 9.1 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC).Analyses of ΔBMI-with adjustment for baseline BMI and demographic/behavioral covariates-were performed for the entire sample. Within cohort 2, they were repeated separately by baseline AS use status (present or absent), with additional adjustment for follow-up AS status. Within cohort 2, these analyses were also repeated among participants whose AS use st...

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We have developed a scale for AN that is easy to use, has high interobserver reliability in Mexican Americans, and correlates well with fasting insulin and BMI. This scale will permit longitudinal and cross-sectional evaluation of AN and will permit the evaluation of AN as a trait in genetic studies.

The authors postulated that as Mexican Americans became more affluent and/or acculturated to "mainstream" United States life-style they would progressively lose their "obesity-related" pattern of cardiovascular risk factors which were defined as: obesity, diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia and low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol. This hypothesis was tested in 1979-1982 in the San Antonio Heart Study, a population-based study on 1,288 Mexican Americans and 929 Anglos living in three San Antonio neighborhoods: a low-income barrio, a middle-income transitional neighborhood, and a high-income suburb. The study population comprised 25-65-year-old men and nonpregnant women. In Mexican American women, all of the "obesity-related" risk factors fell sharply with rising socioeconomic status. In Mexican American men, by contrast, diabetes was the only "obesity-related" risk factor which fell with rising socioeconomic status. Moreover, it fell less steeply, there being an approximately twofold difference in diabetes prevalence between the barrio and the suburbs in men compared to a fourfold difference in women. Also, total and low density lipoprotein cholesterol rose with rising socioeconomic status in Mexican American men, but not in Mexican American women. "Obesity-related" risk factors were generally higher in Mexican Americans of both sexes than in their Anglo neighbors who were of similar socioeconomic status. These results suggest that cultural factors exert a stronger influence on diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors in Mexican Americans than do purely socioeconomic factors.

There has been a significant increasing secular trend in the incidence of type 2 diabetes in Mexican Americans and a borderline significant trend in non-Hispanic whites participating in the San Antonio Heart Study. Unlike other cardiovascular risk factors such as lipid levels, cigarette smoking, and blood pressure, which are either declining or under progressively better medical management and control, and unlike cardiovascular mortality, which is also declining, obesity and type 2 diabetes are exhibiting increasing trends. Thus, obesity and diabetes could easily become the preeminent US public health problem.

OBJECTIVES To examine frailty transitions in Mexican American (MA) and European American (EA) older adults. DESIGN Longitudinal, observational cohort study. SETTING Socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods in San Antonio, Texas. PARTICIPANTS 312 MA and 285 EA community-dwelling older adults (65+) with frailty information at baseline (1992–96) and transition information at follow-up (2000–01) in the San Antonio Longitudinal Study of Aging (SALSA). MEASUREMENTS Five frailty characteristics (weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, slowness, and low physical activity), frailty score (0–5), and overall frailty state (non-frail = 0 characteristics, pre-frail = 1 or 2, frail = 3+) were assessed at baseline. Transitions (progressed, regressed, or no change) were assessed for frailty score and state. Odds ratios (OR) of progression and regression in individual characteristics were estimated using generalized estimating equations, adjusting for age, sex, ethnic group, socioeconomic status, comorbidity, diabetes, and follow-up interval. RESULTS Diabetes with macrovascular complications (OR=1.84, 95%CI: 1.02–3.33), fewer years of education (OR=0.96, 95%CI: 0.93–1.0) and follow-up interval (OR=1.3, 95%CI: 1.17–1.46) were significant predictors of progression in any frailty characteristic. Mortality increased by frailty state, and pre-frail individuals were more likely than frail to regress. CONCLUSION Diabetes with macrovascular complications and fewer years of education are important predictors of progression in any frailty characteristic. Because of increased risk of death compared with the non-frail state and the increased likelihood of regression compared with the frail state, the pre-frail state may be an optimal target for intervention.