Handgrip strength and walking pace negatively impact the incidents of diabetes mellitus among people with HIV: a prospective cohort study in China.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to examine the associations of handgrip strength and walking pace with the risk of incident diabetes mellitus (DM) among people with HIV (PWH). DESIGN: A cohort study. SETTING: This study was conducted in Taizhou City Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Zhejiang Province, mainland China. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1916 participants (mean age 43.3±14.2 years, 77.7% male) without diagnosed or unknown DM at baseline from the Comparative HIV and Aging Research in Taizhou cohort were included. OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was incident DM, defined by fasting glucose >7.0 mmol/L, HbA1c concentration >6.5% or diagnosed with DM by a doctor during the period of follow-up. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 3.2 years, 184 incident DM cases were identified. Overall, there was a significant inverse association between both handgrip strength and walking pace with the risk of incident DM in PWH. Compared with participants with lower handgrip strength (<32.1 and <20.3 kg for males and females) or slower walking pace (<2.1 miles/hour), those with higher handgrip strength (≥32.1 and ≥20.3 kg for males and females) or faster walking pace (≥2.1 miles/hour) had a lower risk of incident DM, the adjusted HR (aHRs) (95% CI were 0.60 (0.42 to 0.85) and 0.59 (0.42 to 0.83), respectively. A higher handgrip strength and a faster walking pace were responsible for 38.0% and 39.7% of DM cases, respectively. Moreover, the lowest risk of incident DM was observed in participants with both higher handgrip strength and faster walking pace (aHR, 0.44; 95% CI 0.25 to 0.76). CONCLUSION: Higher handgrip strength or faster walking pace was significantly associated with a reduced risk of incident DM among PWH.