The Association between Weekend Warrior Physical Activity Patterns and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Korean Adults

Abstract

Purpose: Few studies that have evaluated the relationships between physical activity (PA) patterns of weekend warriors (i.e., individuals who perform all their weekly exercises in one or two sessions) and health outcomes have reported inconsistent findings. The present study sought to examine the association between weekend warrior PA patterns and cardiometabolic risk factors in Korean adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 29,543 men and women who participated in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 2014 and 2019. The weekend warrior PA was defined as at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity or at least 75 minutes/week of vigorous-intensity PA concentrated in one or two sessions/week. Results: Compared with the inactive PA patterns, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) between the weekend warrior PA patterns and cardiometabolic risk factors were 0.89 (0.69-1.15) for hypertension, 0.81 (0.55-1.17) for diabetes, 0.92 (0.69-1.22) for dyslipidemia, 1.10 (0.91-1.34) for obesity, and 1.0 (0.83-1.27) for metabolic syndrome. Regularly active PA patterns, however, had lower odds of diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Conclusion: Our results suggested that no evidence of significant associations between the weekend warrior PA patterns and cardiometabolic risk factors in a representative Korean population. Large-scale prospective cohort studies are warranted to confirm or refute these findings.