Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 15;19(4):561-571.
doi: 10.1177/15598276221118044. eCollection 2025 May-Jun.

The Association of Sedentary Behavior and Physical Activity with Different Measurements of Metabolic Syndrome: The Jackson Heart Study

Robert Booker  1 , Bettina M Beech  1 , Marino A Bruce  1 , Roland J Thorpe Jr  1 , Keith C Norris  1 , Elizabeth Heitman  1 , Robert L Newton Jr  1 , Megan E Holmes  1
Affiliations

The Association of Sedentary Behavior and Physical Activity with Different Measurements of Metabolic Syndrome: The Jackson Heart Study

Robert Booker et al. Am J Lifestyle Med. .

Abstract

Purpose: Cross-sectional investigation of the association of sedentary behavior and physical activity with metabolic syndrome (MetS) among the African American participants in the Jackson Heart Study (JHS). Methods: Prevalence, number of individual components, and MetS severity z-score (MetS-Z) were examined. MetS was classified using ATP-III thresholds. MetS-Z was calculated using sex-, race-, and ethnicity-specific formulas. Sedentary behavior and physical activity were calculated from the JHS Physical Activity Cohort survey (JPAC). Associations between sedentary behavior and physical activity with MetS were assessed by logistic, negative binomial, and ordinary least squares regressions. Results: The mean participant age (N = 3370) was 61.7 ± 11.9 years and most were female (63.9%). Among all participants, 60.5% were classified with MetS. Overall MetS-Z was moderately high (.31 ± 1.07). Most waking hours were sedentary, with just under 40 daily minutes of self-reported physical activity. Physical activity was associated with lower prevalence of MetS, the number of individual components, and MetS-Z score (p < .05). Sedentary behavior was not associated with MetS in any fully adjusted models (p > .05). Conclusions: Physical activity was associated with lower cardiometabolic risk, irrespective of sedentary behavior. Further studies are needed to better understand why no relation was found between sedentary behavior and cardiometabolic risk in this cohort of African American adults.

Keywords: African Americans; Metabolic syndrome; cardiometabolic risk; movement behaviors.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institutes of Health; or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Participant inclusion and exclusion criteria.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gurka MJ, Lilly CL, Oliver MN, DeBoer MD. An examination of sex and racial/ethnic differences in the metabolic syndrome among adults: A confirmatory factor analysis and a resulting continuous severity score. Metabolism. 2014;63(2):218-225. doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2013.10.006 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alberti KG, Eckel RH, Grundy SM, et al. Harmonizing the metabolic syndrome: A joint interim statement of the International diabetes federation task force on epidemiology and prevention; National heart, lung, and blood institute; American heart association; World heart federation; International atherosclerosis society; and International association for the study of obesity. Circulation. 2009;120(16):1640-1645. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.192644 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Morrell JS, Byrd-Bredbenner C, Quick V, Olfert M, Dent A, Carey GB. Metabolic syndrome: Comparison of prevalence in young adults at 3 land-grant universities. J Am Coll Health. 2014;62(1):1-9. doi: 10.1080/07448481.2013.841703 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gurka MJ, Filipp SL, Pearson TA, DeBoer MD. Assessing baseline and temporal changes in cardiometabolic risk using metabolic syndrome severity and common Risk Scores. J Am Heart Assoc. 2018;7(16):e009754. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.118.009754 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arnlov J, Ingelsson E, Sundstrom J, Lind L. Impact of body mass index and the metabolic syndrome on the risk of cardiovascular disease and death in middle-aged men. Circulation . 2010;121(2):230-236. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.887521 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources