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. 2020 Jan 30;17(3):863.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph17030863.

Volume and Intensity of Stepping Activity and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in a Multi-ethnic Asian Population

Jennifer Sumner  1   2   3 , Léonie Uijtdewilligen  4 , Anne Chu Hin Yee  4 , Sheryl Ng Hui Xian  4 , Tiago V Barreira  5 , Robert Alan Sloan  6 , Rob M Van Dam  4 , Falk Müller-Riemenschneider  4   7
Affiliations

Volume and Intensity of Stepping Activity and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in a Multi-ethnic Asian Population

Jennifer Sumner et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The health benefits of objectively measured physical activity volume versus intensity have rarely been studied, particularly in non-western populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between cardiometabolic risk factors and stepping activity including; volume (step count), intensity (cadence) or inactivity (zero-steps/minute/day), in a multi-ethnic Asian population. Participants clinical data was collected at baseline and their physical activity was monitored for seven days, using an accelerometer (Actigraph GT3X+) in 2016. Tertiles (low, moderate, high) of the mean daily step count, peak one-minute, 30-min, 60-min cadences and time/day spent at zero-steps/minute were calculated. Adjusted linear regressions explored the association between stepping activity tertiles and cardiometabolic risk factors. A total of 635 participants (41% male, 67% Chinese, mean age 48.4 years) were included in the analyses. The mean daily step count was 7605 (median daily step count 7310) and 7.8 h of awake time per day were spent inactive (zero-steps/minute). A greater number of associations were found for step intensity than volume. Higher step intensity was associated with reduced body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, blood pressures and higher high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Future health promotion initiatives should consider the greater role of step intensity to reduce cardiometabolic risk.

Keywords: cardiometabolic risk; peak cadence; physical activity; step counts.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflicts of interest.

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Figure 1
Participant flow.
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