Association of steps/day and peak cadence with cardiometabolic risk in community-dwelling older adults: A cross-sectional study
Aging; Physical activity; Accelerometer; Ambulatory behavior; Metabolic syndrome
Background: To investigate the association between steps/day and peak 30-min cadence with cardiometabolic risk in older adults.
Methods: This cross-sectional study included 245 community-dwelling older adults (65.9 ± 4.9 years; 78.4% females). Steps/day and peak cadence were assessed by accelerometry. Cardiometabolic risk was defined using a continuous metabolic syndrome score (cMetS), including blood pressure, HDL-cholesterol, waist circumference, triglycerides, and fasting glucose. The participants were categorized according to the amount of steps/day (inactive <5000; low active 5000–7499; active 7500–9999; highly active 10000+), and steps/min (lowest, < 40; low, 40–59; average, 60–79; high, 80–99; highest, 100+). Generalized linear models were used for data analyses.
Results: The low active (β = –0.27, p = 0.027), the active (β = –0.34, p = 0.013), and the highly active (β = –0.47, p = 0.010) groups had lower cMetS compared to the inactive group. Every increment of 1000 steps/day was associated with a decrease of 0.07 in the cMetS (p < 0.001). The low (β = –0.38, p = 0.026), the average (β = –0.51, p = 0.003), the high (β = –0.58, p = 0.001), and the highest (β = –0.89, p <0.001) groups had lower cMetS compared to the lowest group. Every increment of 10 steps/min in peak 30-min cadence was associated with a decrease of 0.08 in cMetS (p = 0.001).
Conclusions: Easy-to-use proxies of the volume (steps/day) and intensity (peak cadence) of ambulatory behavior are inversely associated in a dose-response manner with cardiometabolic risk in community-dwelling older adults.