The association between daily steps and health, and the mediating role of body composition: a pedometer-based, cross-sectional study in an employed South African population

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dc.contributor.authorPillay, Julian D
dc.contributor.authorvan der Ploeg, Hidde P
dc.contributor.authorKolbe-Alexander, Tracy L
dc.contributor.authorProper, Karin I
dc.contributor.authorvan Stralen, Maartje
dc.contributor.authorTomaz, Simone A
dc.contributor.authorvan Mechelen, Willem
dc.contributor.authorLambert, Estelle V
dc.date.accessioned2015-03-04T09:45:02Z
dc.date.available2015-03-04T09:45:02Z
dc.date.issued2015-02-22
dc.date.updated2015-02-27T19:03:07Z
dc.description.abstractBackground: Walking is recognized as an easily accessible mode of physical activity and is therefore supported as a strategy to promote health and well-being. To complement walking, pedometers have been identified as a useful tool for monitoring ambulatory physical activity, typically measuring total steps/day. There is, however, little information concerning dose-response for health outcomes in relation to intensity or duration of sustained steps. We aimed to examine this relationship, along with factors that mediate it, among employed adults. Methods: A convenience sample, recruited from work-site health risk screening (N = 312, 37 ± 9 yrs), wore a pedometer for at least three consecutive days. Steps were classified as “aerobic” (≥100 steps/minute and ≥10 consecutive minutes) or “non-aerobic” (<100 steps/minute and/or <10 consecutive minutes). The data were sub-grouped according to intensity-based categories i.e. “no aerobic activity”, “low aerobic activity” (1-20 minutes/day of aerobic activity) and “high aerobic activity” (≥21 minutes/day of aerobic activity), with the latter used as a proxy for current PA guidelines (150-minutes of moderate-intensity PA per week). Health outcomes included blood pressure, body mass index, percentage body fat, waist circumference, blood cholesterol and blood glucose. Analysis of covariance, adjusting for age, gender and total steps/day were used to compare groups according to volume and intensity-based steps categories. A further analysis compared the mediation effect of body fat estimates (percentage body fat, body mass index and waist circumference) on the association between steps and health outcomes, independently. Results: Average steps/day were 6,574 ± 3,541; total steps/day were inversely associated with most health outcomes in the expected direction (p < 0.05). The “no aerobic activity” group was significantly different from the “low aerobic activity” and “high aerobic activity” in percentage body fat and diastolic blood pressure only (P < 0.05). Percentage body fat emerged as the strongest mediator of the relationship between steps and outcomes, while body mass index showed the least mediation effect. Conclusion: The study provides a presentation of cross-sectional pedometer data that relate to a combination of intensity and volume-based steps/day and its relationship to current guidelines. The integration of volume, intensity and duration of ambulatory physical activity in pedometer-based messages is of emerging relevance.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationPillay, J. D., van der Ploeg, H. P., Kolbe-Alexander, T. L., Proper, K. I., van Stralen, M., Tomaz, S. A., ... Lambert, E. V. (2015). The association between daily steps and health, and the mediating role of body composition: a pedometer-based, cross-sectional study in an employed South African population. <i>BMC Public Health</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12551en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationPillay, Julian D, Hidde P van der Ploeg, Tracy L Kolbe-Alexander, Karin I Proper, Maartje van Stralen, Simone A Tomaz, Willem van Mechelen, and Estelle V Lambert "The association between daily steps and health, and the mediating role of body composition: a pedometer-based, cross-sectional study in an employed South African population." <i>BMC Public Health</i> (2015) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12551en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationPillay, J. D., van der Ploeg, H. P., Kolbe-Alexander, T. L., Proper, K. I., van Stralen, M., Tomaz, S. A., ... & Lambert, E. V. (2015). The association between daily steps and health, and the mediating role of body composition: a pedometer-based, cross-sectional study in an employed South African population. BMC public health, 15(1), 174.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1471-2458
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Pillay, Julian D AU - van der Ploeg, Hidde P AU - Kolbe-Alexander, Tracy L AU - Proper, Karin I AU - van Stralen, Maartje AU - Tomaz, Simone A AU - van Mechelen, Willem AU - Lambert, Estelle V AB - Background: Walking is recognized as an easily accessible mode of physical activity and is therefore supported as a strategy to promote health and well-being. To complement walking, pedometers have been identified as a useful tool for monitoring ambulatory physical activity, typically measuring total steps/day. There is, however, little information concerning dose-response for health outcomes in relation to intensity or duration of sustained steps. We aimed to examine this relationship, along with factors that mediate it, among employed adults. Methods: A convenience sample, recruited from work-site health risk screening (N = 312, 37 ± 9 yrs), wore a pedometer for at least three consecutive days. Steps were classified as “aerobic” (≥100 steps/minute and ≥10 consecutive minutes) or “non-aerobic” (<100 steps/minute and/or <10 consecutive minutes). The data were sub-grouped according to intensity-based categories i.e. “no aerobic activity”, “low aerobic activity” (1-20 minutes/day of aerobic activity) and “high aerobic activity” (≥21 minutes/day of aerobic activity), with the latter used as a proxy for current PA guidelines (150-minutes of moderate-intensity PA per week). Health outcomes included blood pressure, body mass index, percentage body fat, waist circumference, blood cholesterol and blood glucose. Analysis of covariance, adjusting for age, gender and total steps/day were used to compare groups according to volume and intensity-based steps categories. A further analysis compared the mediation effect of body fat estimates (percentage body fat, body mass index and waist circumference) on the association between steps and health outcomes, independently. Results: Average steps/day were 6,574 ± 3,541; total steps/day were inversely associated with most health outcomes in the expected direction (p < 0.05). The “no aerobic activity” group was significantly different from the “low aerobic activity” and “high aerobic activity” in percentage body fat and diastolic blood pressure only (P < 0.05). Percentage body fat emerged as the strongest mediator of the relationship between steps and outcomes, while body mass index showed the least mediation effect. Conclusion: The study provides a presentation of cross-sectional pedometer data that relate to a combination of intensity and volume-based steps/day and its relationship to current guidelines. The integration of volume, intensity and duration of ambulatory physical activity in pedometer-based messages is of emerging relevance. DA - 2015-02-22 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1186/s12889-015-1381-6 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - BMC Public Health LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 SM - 1471-2458 T1 - The association between daily steps and health, and the mediating role of body composition: a pedometer-based, cross-sectional study in an employed South African population TI - The association between daily steps and health, and the mediating role of body composition: a pedometer-based, cross-sectional study in an employed South African population UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12551 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/12551
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1381-6
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationPillay JD, van der Ploeg HP, Kolbe-Alexander TL, Proper KI, van Stralen M, Tomaz SA, et al. The association between daily steps and health, and the mediating role of body composition: a pedometer-based, cross-sectional study in an employed South African population. BMC Public Health. 2015; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12551.en_ZA
dc.language.rfc3066en
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentMRC/UCT RU for Exercise and Sport Medicineen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)*
dc.rights.holderPillay et al.; licensee BioMed Central.
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_ZA
dc.sourceBMC Public Healthen_ZA
dc.sourceBMC Public Healthen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpublichealth/
dc.titleThe association between daily steps and health, and the mediating role of body composition: a pedometer-based, cross-sectional study in an employed South African populationen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetype
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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