Baseline and longitudinal joint associations of alcohol consumption and obesity with diabetes risk: evaluating multiplicative and additive interactions
Authors' conclusion
Obesity and high alcohol consumption were consistently associated with incident diabetes, and an antagonistic additive interaction was observed between obesity and all alcohol consumption levels.
Study context
- Population
- Asian adults aged ≥40 years without diabetes at baseline (2001–2002), followed until 2017–2018
- Participants
- 7,817 adults
- Exposure
- Obesity and alcohol consumption categories, independently and jointly
- Outcome
- Incident diabetes
Methodological detailstime-varying exposures, Cox proportional hazards and Aalen's additive hazards models
- Time-varying exposures
- Cox proportional hazards and Aalen's additive hazards models
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Hazard ratio (95% CI)
Obesity
1.91(1.75–2.09)
High alcohol consumption
1.23(1.05–1.44)
- Obesity
- additional cases per 1000 person-years 21.9 (95% CI 20.0–23.8)
- High alcohol consumption
- additional cases per 1000 person-years 14.6 (95% CI 11.1–18.1)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Additive interaction of obesity and current alcohol consumption (antagonistic)
| Fewer cases/1000 person-years (95% CI) | P value | |
|---|---|---|
| Obesity × <10 g/day | 12.8 (−17.4 to −8.2) | pinteraction value <0.001 |
| Obesity × 10-29.9 g/day | 15.9 (−22.1 to −9.8) | pinteraction value <0.001 |
| Obesity × ≥30 g/day | 14.6 (−22.0 to −7.2) | pinteraction value <0.001 |
Multiplicative interaction of obesity and alcohol consumption
- No significant multiplicative interactions for baseline or time-varying obesity with current or daily alcohol consumption
Joint analysis in participants with obesity
- Increased association with low-to-moderate alcohol consumption minimal on multiplicative and additive models, especially for time-varying exposures
Sensitivity analysis restricted to baseline current drinkers (<10 g/day as reference)
- Results comparable
Original publication
Baseline and longitudinal joint associations of alcohol consumption and obesity with diabetes risk: evaluating multiplicative and additive interactions. Diabetologia. Published 2 July 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →