Relationship of device measured physical activity type and posture with cardiometabolic health markers: pooled dose–response associations from the Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting and Sleep Consortium

Abstract

Aims/hypothesis The aim of this study was to examine the dose–response associations of device-measured physical activity types and postures (sitting and standing time) with cardiometabolic health. Methods We conducted an individual participant harmonised meta-analysis of 12,095 adults (mean ± SD age 54.5±9.6 years; female participants 54.8%) from six cohorts with thigh-worn accelerometry data from the Prospective Physical Activity, Sitting and Sleep (ProPASS) Consortium. Associations of daily walking, stair climbing, running, standing and sitting time with a composite cardiometabolic health score (based on standardised z scores) and individual cardiometabolic markers (BMI, waist circumference, triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, HbA1c and total cholesterol) were examined cross-sectionally using generalised linear modelling and cubic splines. Results We observed more favourable composite cardiometabolic health (i.e. z score <0) with approximately 64 min/day walking (z score [95% CI] −0.14 [−0.25, −0.02]) and 5 min/day stair climbing (−0.14 [−0.24, −0.03]). We observed an equivalent magnitude of association at 2.6 h/day standing. Any amount of running was associated with better composite cardiometabolic health. We did not observe an upper limit to the magnitude of the dose–response associations for any activity type or standing. There was an inverse dose–response association between sitting time and composite cardiometabolic health that became markedly less favourable when daily durations exceeded 12.1 h/day. Associations for sitting time were no longer significant after excluding participants with prevalent CVD or medication use. The dose–response pattern was generally consistent between activity and posture types and individual cardiometabolic health markers. Conclusions/interpretation In this first activity type-specific analysis of device-based physical activity, ~64 min/day of walking and ~5.0 min/day of stair climbing were associated with a favourable cardiometabolic risk profile. The deleterious associations of sitting time were fully attenuated after exclusion of participants with prevalent CVD and medication use. Our findings on cardiometabolic health and durations of different activities of daily living and posture may guide future interventions involving lifestyle modification. Graphical Abstract

Thigh-worn accelerometry: a comparative study of two no-code classification methods for identifying physical activity types

“…Future research should incorporate a more heterogeneous sample and a broader range of activities to allow a more generalisable evaluation of the accuracy of both classification approaches. Given previous validation results with other commonly used brands of accelerometers, our findings support the use of ActiPASS as a generic activity classification software that allows data from different data sources to be pooled [ 5 , 35 ].…”

One minute of stair climbing and descending reduces postprandial insulin and glucose with 3-min improving insulin resistance following a mixed meal in young adults: A randomized controlled crossover trial

“… 13 , 14 Based on device-measured physical activity monitoring, 10 minutes of SCD was associated with the same magnitude of reduction in glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) as 90 minutes of walking. 15 SCD is also fairly easy, with perceived exertion being lower than objectively measured intensity. 9 In a survey of adults living in New York City, 62% of adults reported climbing three or more flights of stairs on an average weekday while 32% reported climbing two or less.…”