OBJECTIVES
Many studies have shown that physical activity can provide benefits against factors associated with mortality, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults engage at least 150 min/wk of moderate- and 75 min/wk of vigorous-intensity physical activity for health benefits. However, it is unclear whether performing the same amount of physical activity consistently over many days and concentrating these activities into fewer days has the same benefits. This study aimed to compare whether people who meet the 150 min of physical activity per week have the same protection against metabolic syndrome as those who are physically active only one or two days per week, compared to those who regularly active three to seven days per week.
METHODS
This study used data from KNHANES 2017-2019 and included 26,197 adults. The physical activity was evaluated using a self-report questionnaire. The participants were classified into inactive (not meeting guidelines), regularly active (meeting guideline with ≥3 sessions/wk), weekend warrior (meeting guideline with only 1-2 sessions/wk) according to physical activity patterns. Metabolic syndrome was defined as having three or more of the following risk factors: abdominal obesity, hypertension, high blood glucose, low HDL-C or high TG.
RESULTS
The prevalence of metabolic syndrome according to physical activity patterns was 26.3% in the inactive, 16.7% in the regularly active, and 22.3% in the weekend warrior group (all p<0.001), respectively. Lower risk for metabolic syndrome were observed in both the regularly active (OR=0.60; 95% CI: 0.52-0.70) and weekend warrior groups (OR=0.82; 95% CI: 0.69-0.98) compared to the inactive group after adjusting covariates. We also found similar patterns in subgroups, but these association was more pronounced in women, participants aged <65 years, and non/light drinkers.
CONCLUSIONS
Moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity, as recommended by the WHO, was associated with a reduction in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Among the physical activity patterns, the regular active group has the lowest risk for metabolic syndrome. In addition, we found that the weekend warrior physical activity pattern may effective in reducing the risk of metabolic syndrome. Therefore, for people who find it difficult to be physically active on a regular basis, 1-2 days of physical activity on the weekend may be recommended to help reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome.