Physical activity levels and type 2 diabetes risk scores of university students

The present study is to reveal physical activity levels and type 2 diabetes risk scores of university students in accordance with gender differences and determine the relation between physical activities and type 2 diabetes scores. One thousand ninety three students studying at Erzincan University (540 female and 553 male) participated in the study. A short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and Finnish Diabetes Risk Score Questionnaire were used to determine physical activity scores and type 2 diabetes risk scores of the students. For analysis of the data, an independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance test and Pearson correlation analysis were used. Diabetes risk scores of women were found to be higher than men (p<0.01). Diabetes risk scores of men have a negative relation with all physical activity sub-categories, but for women it was found only in terms of vigor and total activity levels (p<0.01). It can be concluded that the association between diabetes risk scores and physical activity levels of male students was stronger than that of female students. Thus, increasing physical activity may reduce the diabetes risk score in university students. © Kamla-Raj 2015.