Associations between Objectively Determined Physical Activity and Cardiometabolic Health in Adult Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to qualitatively synthesize and quantitatively assess the evidence of the relationship between objectively determined volumes of physical activity (PA) and cardiometabolic health in women. Four databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and the Cochrane library) were searched and, finally, 24 eligible studies were included, with a total of 2105 women from eight countries. A correlational meta-analysis shows that moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) was favorably associated with high-density lipoprotein (r = 0.16; 95% CI: 0.06, 0.25; p = 0.002); however, there was limited evidence for the effects of most of the other cardiometabolic biomarkers recorded from steps, total physical activity, light- and moderate-intensity physical activity and MVPA. It is most compelling and consistent that being more physically active is beneficial to the metabolic syndrome. Overall, PA levels are low in adult women, suggesting that increasing the total volume of PA is more important than emphasizing the intensity and duration of PA. The findings also indicate that, according to the confounding effects of body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness, meeting the minimal level of 150 min of moderate-intensity physical activity recommended is not enough to obtain a significant improvement in cardiometabolic indicators. Nonetheless, the high heterogeneity between studies inhibits robust conclusions.

Physical Activity Assessed by Wrist and Thigh Worn Accelerometry and Associations with Cardiometabolic Health

“…When considering physical activity volume and intensity more broadly, similar to the present study, physical activity volume and intensity appear to be associated with measures of adiposity, such as body fat percentage [37], BMI and waist circumference [38], regardless of the device and metrics used to produce volume and intensity. However, for other metrics of cardiometabolic health (e.g., fasting glucose, blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides), no associations between physical activity volume, when described as steps per day, and intensity have been reported [38,39], with the exception of daily MVPA time and HDL cholesterol [39]. In the current study, we also observed that intensity (assessed by either accelerometer) was associated with HDL cholesterol but not after adjusting for volume.…”

Associations between physical activity, physical fitness, and body composition in adults living in Germany: A cross-sectional study

“…A recent review found that in females, the total volume of PA plays a more important role in health benefits than intensity [ 80 ]. Especially concerning metabolic syndrome, which is also defined by an immoderate amount of body fat [ 81 ], two studies identified a positive association with the volume of PA [ 82 , 83 ] whereas another study found positive effects only between moderate to vigorous PA and metabolic syndrome [ 84 ].…”

“…Also, in younger adult males, it was found that regardless of whether higher muscle mass or fat mass was present, VO 2 max was negatively associated with body weight [ 94 ]. Possibly the hormonal differences between the sexes [ 80 ] lead to different adaptations through sports activities. Certain sports activities could also induce a higher exertion in women than in men [ 93 ] which could rather lead to positive effects such as a faster increase in muscle mass.…”

Accelerometer-Measured Physical Activity, Fitness and Indicators of Cardiometabolic Risk among Rural Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study at 15-Year Follow-up of the MINIMat Cohort

“…Nonetheless, total PA does not indicate the relative contribution of PA of different intensities to the accumulated PA. Whereas total PA at any intensity appears to be negatively associated with cardiometabolic risk indicators among middle-aged and older adults [54][55][56], it is the share of PA of higher intensity that drives these associations among adolescents [57,58]. The reason for the gender-specific association between higher total PA and lower SBP among the boys remains unclear.…”