OBJECTIVES

This study evaluated whether individuals with affected family member adhered to healthy behaviours.

DESIGN AND SETTING

This was a cross-sectional study of participants selected from health examinees who underwent the national health check-up programme of Korea in 39 centres between 2004 and 2013.

PARTICIPANTS

The baseline data of 128 520 participants enrolled in the Health Examinees-Gem study were used for analysis.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Associations of family history of diabetes with adherence to regular exercise, healthy diet and body composition, and clusters of healthy behaviours were evaluated while adjusting for potential confounders selected by a directed acyclic graph.

RESULTS

Participants with a family history of diabetes were more likely to adhere to a regular exercise regimen (OR=1.12, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.18 for men and OR=1.10, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.14 for women) and healthy diet (OR=1.06, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.12 for men and OR=1.06, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.12 for women) but were less likely to have a normal body composition (OR=0.83, 95% CI 0.78 to 0.87 for men and OR=0.83, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.86 for women). These associations were strengthened when the affected family members were siblings, the number of affected members was increased or the age at diagnosis of the affected member was younger than 50 years. In men and women, having a normal body composition is important in determining the cluster of behaviours, and those with a family history of diabetes were less likely to adhere to the normal body composition cluster.

CONCLUSIONS

The group with high risk of diabetes showed healthy behaviors, but they did not have a normal body composition. Policies and campaigns targeting integrated health behaviors will be needed to reduce the burden of diseases and improve public health.