<p>Associations of Physical Activity and Sedentary Time with Metabolic Syndrome in Saudi Adult Males</p>

Abstract

The association between objectively measured sedentary behavior and physical activity with metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been rarely investigated in Saudi Arabia. The purpose of the current study was to examine the association of objectively measured sedentary, light physical activity (LPA), and moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with MetS among Saudi adult males. Materials and Methods: The study participants were 103 males from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (mean age = 54.9 ± 10.6 years). Metabolic syndrome was defined based on having three or more of cardiometabolic risk factors. Triaxial accelerometers were used to measure the time spent on sedentary and physical activities across 7 days. A minimum four days with ≥10 hours of wearing time per day were considered a valid data. Binary logistics regression models were performed to examine the association of sedentary and physical activity levels with MetS vs no MetS. Model 1 was unadjusted, models 2, 3, and 4 were mutually controlled for sedentary, light, and MVPA intensities. Results: About 38% of males in the present study were classified as having MetS as demonstrated by a significant (p<0.05) decrease in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and a significant (p<0.05) increase in body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), systolic blood pressure, glucose, and triglycerides compared to those without MetS. In addition, low levels of LPA (less than 6.3 hours per day) were significantly associated with the risk of having MetS, independent of sedentary and MVPA (odds ratio (OR) 4.26-6.96). The results showed that the associations between sedentary tertiles and MetS were not statistically significant. Levels of MVPA were also not significantly associated with an increased risk of developing MetS in all models. Conclusion: This study showed that low levels of LPA were significantly associated with the risk of having MetS in Saudi males from Riyadh city, independent of MVPA and sedentary time. The results suggest that future intervention studies should assess the positive effect of increasing levels of LPA in reducing the risk of developing MetS in males.

Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2022 Update: A Report From the American Heart Association

“…In cross-sectional studies, prevalent MetS is directly associated with low cardiorespiratory fitness 99,130 and low levels of PA 131,132 and is inversely associated with “weekend warrior” and regular PA patterns, 133 any length of moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA, 132 and handgrip strength. 134–136…”

Sedentary time and the risk of metabolic syndrome: A systematic review and dose–response meta‐analysis

“…Four prospective cohort studies 28–31 and six cross‐sectional studies 32–34,36,37,40 with a total of 31,106 adults (13,105 men and 18,001 women) reported the categorical association between total sedentary time and the risk of MetS independent of physical activity (Table 2; Figures S1–S4). Compared with those in the lowest category, adults in the highest (median duration: 7.26 h/day, interquartile range: 6.00–8.13 h/day) and intermediate (median duration: 4.11 h/day, interquartile range: 3.91–4.77 h/day) categories of total sedentary time were significantly associated with an increased risk of MetS.…”

“…After the title and abstract screening and full-text review, 24 eligible studies were included, and another two studies were added through a manual search of the reference lists. Inclusion criteria were totally met in 26 studies, including four prospective cohort studies [28][29][30][31] and 22 cross-sectional studies 7,32-52 with 105,239 unique participants (39,369 children and adolescents 7,42,49,50 and 65,870 adults [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][43][44][45][46][47][48]51,52 ) and 16,185 MetS cases (1,081 children and adolescents and 15,104 adults). The follow-up periods ranged from 9.6 ± 6.9 years to 1 year.…”

“…The follow-up periods ranged from 9.6 ± 6.9 years to 1 year. [29][30][31] Three studies involved only men, 30,32,33 while the others involved both men (boys) and women (girls). The mean age of adults exceeded 60 years in six studies, 29,34,39,41,45,48 exceeded 19 years in one study, 37 and ranged from 40 to 59 in other studies.…”

“…More than 60% of the included studies were published in the last 10 years, that is, 2013 to the present. Eleven studies were conducted in Asia (China, Japan, Korea, and Saudi Arabia), 28,29,31,32,36,37,[40][41][42][43]45 eight in America (USA and Brazil), 7,30,35,[47][48][49][50][51] five in Europe (France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Spain), 33,38,39,44,52 and two in Australia. 34,46 Fourteen studies reported total sedentary time as the exposure, [28][29][30][31][32][33][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] 11 reported screen time, 7,43-52 and 1 reported both total sedentary time and screen time.…”