Purpose
This study aimed to examine how compositions of 24-h time use and time reallocations between movement behaviors are associated with cardiometabolic health in a population-based sample of middle-age Finnish adults.
Methods
Participants were 3443 adults 46 yr of age from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 study. Participants wore a hip-worn accelerometer for 14 d from which time spent in sedentary behavior (SB), light-intensity physical activity (LPA), and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) were determined. These data were combined with self-reported sleep to obtain the 24-h time-use composition. Cardiometabolic outcomes included adiposity markers, blood lipid levels, and markers of glucose control and insulin sensitivity. Multivariable-adjusted regression analysis, using a compositional data analysis approach based on isometric log-ratio transformation, was used to examine associations between movement behaviors with cardiometabolic outcomes.
Results
More daily time in MVPA and LPA, relative to other movement behaviors, was consistently favorably associated with all cardiometabolic outcomes. For example, relative to time spent in other behaviors, 30 min·d−1 more MVPA and LPA were both associated with lower 2-h post–glucose load insulin level (−11.8% and −2.7%, respectively). Relative to other movement behaviors, more daily time in SB was adversely associated with adiposity measures, lipid levels, and markers of insulin sensitivity, and more daily time asleep was adversely associated with adiposity measures, blood lipid, fasting plasma glucose, and 2-h insulin. For example, 60 min·d−1 more SB and sleep relative to the remaining behaviors were both associated with higher 2-h insulin (3.5% and 5.7%, respectively).
Conclusions
Altering daily movement behavior compositions to incorporate more MVPA at the expense of any other movement behavior, or more LPA at the expense of SB or sleep, could help to improve cardiometabolic health in midadulthood.
Breaking up sedentary time with physical activity (PA) could modify the detrimental cardiometabolic health effects of sedentary time. Our aim was to identify profiles according to distinct accumulation patterns of sedentary time and breaks in adults, and to investigate how these profiles are associated with cardiometabolic outcomes. Participants (n = 4439) of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 at age 46 years wore a hip‐worn accelerometer for 7 consecutive days during waking hours. Uninterrupted ≥1‐min sedentary bouts were identified, and non‐sedentary bouts in between two consecutive sedentary bouts were considered as sedentary breaks. K‐means clustering was performed with 65 variables characterizing how sedentary time was accumulated and interrupted. Linear regression was used to determine the association of accumulation patterns with cardiometabolic health markers. Four distinct groups were formed as follows: “Couch potatoes” (n = 1222), “Prolonged sitters” (n = 1179), “Shortened sitters” (n = 1529), and “Breakers” (n = 509). Couch potatoes had the highest level of sedentariness and the shortest sedentary breaks. Prolonged sitters, accumulating sedentary time in bouts of ≥15–30 min, had no differences in cardiometabolic outcomes compared with Couch potatoes. Shortened sitters accumulated sedentary time in bouts lasting <15 min and performed more light‐intensity PA in their sedentary breaks, and Breakers performed more light‐intensity and moderate‐to‐vigorous PA. These latter two profiles had lower levels of adiposity, blood lipids, and insulin sensitivity, compared with Couch potatoes (1.1–25.0% lower values depending on the cardiometabolic health outcome, group, and adjustments for potential confounders). Avoiding uninterrupted sedentary time with any active behavior from light‐intensity upwards could be beneficial for cardiometabolic health in adults.
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