Physical activity and metabolic risk in individuals with a family history of type 2 diabetes.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to examine the independent associations between different dimensions of physical activity with intermediary and clustered metabolic risk factors in overweight individuals with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes to inform future preventive action.


METHODS
We measured total body movement and five other subcomponents of physical activity by accelerometry in 258 adults (aged 30-50 years) with a family history of type 2 diabetes. We estimated aerobic fitness from an incremental treadmill exercise test. We measured body composition by bioimpedance and waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, glucose, and insulin with standard methods. We constructed a standardized continuously distributed variable for clustered risk.


RESULTS
Total body movement (counts . day(-1)) was significantly and independently associated with three of six risk factors (fasting triglycerides, insulin, and HDL) and with clustered metabolic risk (P = 0.004) after adjustment for age, sex, and obesity. Time spent at moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity (MPVA) was independently associated with clustered metabolic risk (P = 0.03). Five- and 10-min bouts of MVPA, time spent sedentary, time spent at light-intensity activity, and aerobic fitness were not significantly related with clustered risk after adjustment for confounding factors.


CONCLUSIONS
Total body movement is associated with intermediary phenotypic risk factors for cardiovascular disease and metabolic disease and with clustered metabolic risk independent of aerobic fitness and obesity. Increasing the total amount of physical activity in sedentary and overweight individuals may have beneficial effects on metabolic risk factors.
Ekelund
Ulf
U
MRC Epidemiology Unit, Elsie Widdowson Laboratory, Fulbourn Road, Cambridge CB1 9NL, U.K. ulf.ekelund@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk
Griffin
Simon J
SJ
Wareham
Nicholas J
NJ
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D049628:Body Size; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL / Q000097:blood; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D015444:Exercise; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity
D001786:Blood Glucose; D008076:Cholesterol, HDL