Fitness, Not Physical Activity, Offsets Sedentary Behavior in the Elderly

Being fit—not just being physically active—may offset the harsh effects of sedentary behavior on cardiovascular risk in the elderly despite sedentary time and physical activity guidelines, according to a new study from Norway.

As part of the Generation 100 Study in Norway, the researchers examined data from 495 women and 379 men aged 70 to 77 years participating from August 22, 2012, to June 30, 2013.
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At baseline, participants’ body mass, body height, waist circumference, and blood pressure were measured, and blood samples were collected. The researchers measured physical activity via accelerometers and cardiorespiratory fitness via peak oxygen uptake.

Cardiovascular risk factor clustering was determined if participants had 3 or more of the following risk factors for heart disease: hypertension, high blood glucose level, high waist circumference, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, or high triglyceride level.

After performing a logistic regression, the researchers found that 32.9% of the women and 36.9% of the men had cardiovascular risk factor clustering.

Compared with those who were least sedentary, women and men from the most sedentary group were more likely to have cardiovascular risk factors (83% and 63%, respectively).

After adjusting for level of fitness, participants with the highest cardiorespiratory fitness had a lower risk of cardiovascular risk factors than the least sedentary group, despite the most fit participants spending 12 to 13 hours per day sedentary and not meeting moderate to vigorous activity guidelines.

“High age-specific [cardiorespiratory fitness] fully attenuates the adverse effect of prolonged sedentary time on [cardiovascular risk factor] clustering, independent of meeting the [physical activity] consensus recommendation in older adults,” the researchers concluded.

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Sandbakk SB, Nauman J, Zisko N, et al. Sedentary time, cardiorespiratory fitness, and cardiovascular risk factor clustering in older adults—the Generation 100 Study [published inline October 18, 2016]. Proceedings. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2016.07.020.