Han H, Cao Y, Feng C, et al. - In type 2 diabetes patients, a healthy lifestyle (no current smoking, moderate alcohol intake, regular physical activity, healthy diet, less sedentary behavior, adequate sleep duration, and appropriate social connection) was found to be linked with a lower risk of all-cause mortality and mortality due to cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, respiratory disease, and digestive disease.

• From the UK Biobank, a total of 13,366 participants with baseline type 2 diabetes who were free of CVD and cancer were analyzed and lifestyle information was obtained via a baseline questionnaire.

• A significant association of each lifestyle factor with all-cause mortality was found, and hazard ratios linked with the lifestyle score (scoring 6–7 vs 0–2 unless specified) were 0.42, 0.57, 0.35, 0.26, and 0.28 for all-cause mortality, cancer mortality, CVD mortality, respiratory mortality, and for digestive mortality (scoring 5–7 vs 0–2), respectively.

• A poor lifestyle (scoring 0–5) was associated with 29.4% (95% CI 17.9%, 40.9%) of deaths.

• The relationship between a healthy lifestyle and all-cause death was identified to be consistent, regardless of factors reflecting diabetes severity (diabetes duration, glycemic control, diabetes-related microvascular disease, and diabetes medication).