2.4. Outcome variables

Outcome variables in our analysis were time-to-incidence of all-cause mortality, T2DM and obesity. Mortality was registered in Lifelines on a monthly basis, and we used the data until the end of 2019. Following Deschênes et al., (2018), participants were identified as having T2DM at a follow-up period (1B, 1C or 2A) if they (1) self-reported a newly developed doctor-diagnosed T2DM; (2) were measured to have a fasting glucose value of 7.0 mmol/L or higher; or (3) had a hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c, the hemoglobin type that is bound to glucose) value of 6.5 % (Deschênes et al., 2018). Similarly, incidences of obesity occurred when respondents were measured to have a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 kg/m² or higher.