The impact of smoking on incident type 2 diabetes in a cohort with hepatitis B but not hepatitis C infection

Summary Smoking may be a risk factor for diabetes, and it has been suggested that viral hepatitis may predispose to diabetes. We studied diabetes and smoking histories in people with viral hepatitis. From 1997 to 2004, we studied the risk of incident diabetes in a community cohort with hyperendemic HBV and HCV infection in southern Taiwan. The cohort involved 3539 people (40–70 years old) without diabetes. Four hundred and twenty‐three individuals developed diabetes. Those who were ≥65 years old, frequently consumed alcohol, had a BMI ≥25, had