Associations between objective physical activity and metabolic syndrome in African-origin adults from five countries

Bheemraj, Kalisha

Associations between objective physical activity and metabolic syndrome in African-origin adults from five countries

Thesis / Dissertation

2025

Publisher

University of Cape town

Department

Department of Public Health and Family Medicine

Faculty

Faculty of Health Sciences

Abstract

Metabolic syndrome affects approximately 25% of adults worldwide. Physical inactivity has been identified as a key modifiable risk factor for metabolic syndrome, but studies are conflicting when using different methods to measure physical activity (PA), including both objective measures versus self-report. Furthermore, there is a lack of studies exploring these relationships in African-origin populations, who present with a higher prevalence compared to other race/ethic groups. The aim of this study was to explore the association between objectively-measured PA and metabolic syndrome in 5 African-origin populations spanning the epidemiologic transition. 2500 adults from Ghana, South Africa, Jamaica, Seychelles and the United States were recruited between 2010-2011 in the Modeling the Epidemiologic Transition Study (METS). Data collection, included clinical and laboratory measures, anthropometrics, and 7-days of accelerometer-measured moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), observed in mean minutes per day. Study procedures were identical in the 5 sites. Metabolic syndrome was defined as having any three of the following five risk factors: large waist circumference, elevated triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, high blood pressure and elevated fasting glucose. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its constituent risk factors was stratified by sex and site. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the association between MVPA and metabolic syndrome in the pooled cohort, adjusting for lifestyle factors (alcohol use, smoking status and sleep duration), age, sex, BMI and body fat percentage. Of 1167 male participants (median age 35, IQR: 30-40 years) and 1339 female participants (median age 35, IQR: 29-40), males had a lower BMI (23.6 kg/m2 , IQR: 20.9-27.5) compared to females (26 kg/m2 , IQR: 22-31). Across all sites, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 17% (n=431), and higher among females (n=287, 11%) compared to males (n=144, 6%). After adjusting for covariates, MVPA was not associated with metabolic syndrome (aOR 1.00, 0.99-1.00), nor meeting the PA guidelines of ≥30 mins/day (aOR = 0.76, 0.57- 1.01). Our results suggest that other environmental lifestyle factors may play a more significant role in the development of metabolic syndrome in this population of African-origin adults. Future research should focus on understanding the relationship between other environmental lifestyle factors, including sleep, and dietary intake, and metabolic syndrome

Keywords

Medicine

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