Smoking Habits, Stress, and Physical Activity in relation to Diabetes Mellitus: a nationwide study in Indonesia

Diabetes mellitus remains a primary chronic disease all around the world, including Indonesia. A poor lifestyle that includes smoking habits, stress, and lack of physical activities will increase the incidence of diabetes mellitus.This study aimed to explore the relationship of smoking habits, stress, and physical activity with diabetes mellitus incidence in Indonesia.

A total of 12,110 respondents from 13 provinces in Indonesia were interviewed and evaluated in a cross-sectional national-based population study in Indonesia. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratio value with a 95% confidence interval.

Of the 12,110 respondents, 9,154 (75.59%) were ³ 45 years old and 6,704 (55.36%) had low physical activity.  Exposure to cigarette smoke (AOR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.57-0.94, p < 0.05) and high or vigorous physical activity (AOR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.67-0.9, p <0.05) were significantly related to diabetes mellitus.

Smoking habits and physical activity were highly associated with diabetes mellitus but stress was not. Therefore, health promotion measures for improvement of life style and prevention of diabetes mellitus are needed and should be organized by primary health care system.