Accelerometer-Based Physical Activity in The Maastricht Study

In this study, we used data from The Maastricht Study, an observational, prospective, population-based cohort study. The rationale and methods have been described previously [22 (link)]. In brief, the study focuses on the aetiology, pathophysiology, complications and comorbidities of type 2 diabetes mellitus and is characterised by an extensive phenotyping approach.
Eligible participants were individuals aged between 40 and 75 years and living in the southern part of the Netherlands. Participants were recruited through mass media campaigns and from the municipal registries and the regional Diabetes Patient Registry via mailings. Recruitment was stratified according to known type 2 diabetes status for reasons of efficiency. This study included cross-sectional data from 3,451 participants who completed the baseline survey between November 2010 and September 2013. After excluding participants who did not receive an accelerometer due to logistics (n = 673), whose accelerometer measurement failed (n = 136) or who had other missing data (n = 145), a total of 2,497 participants were included in the present analyses.
The study was approved by the institutional medical ethical committee (NL31329.068.10) and the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sports of the Netherlands, on the basis of the Health Council’s opinion (permit 131088-105234-PG). All participants gave written informed consent.