Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Metabolic Syndrome Risk Factors
Study Questions:
What is the association between the metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), defined as maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max)?
Methods:
A cohort of 3,636 adults (1,629 women, 2,007 men; mean ± standard deviation age, 44.7 ± 12.3 years) in the Ball State Adult Fitness Program completed CRF testing and metabolic risk factor assessment between January 1, 1971, and November 1, 2016. MetSyn factors assessed included central obesity, elevated triglycerides, low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), impaired fasting plasma glucose, and hypertension, or pharmacologic treatment for diagnosed hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL-C, or diabetes. The CRF was defined as a measured VO2max from a cardiopulmonary exercise test on a treadmill, with a respiratory exchange ratio value of ≥1.0.
Results:
Prevalence of MetSyn (≥3 factors) was 26% (n = 953) in the cohort, with men having a greater likelihood for MetSyn compared with women (p < 0.001); 15% of those with MetSyn were physically active compared to 33% of those without the MetSyn. The difference in VO2max between those individuals with MetSyn and those without was approximately 2.3 METs. Logistic regression analyses showed a significant inverse and graded association between quartiles of CRF and MetSyn for the group overall (p < 0.001), with odds ratios using the lowest fitness group as the referent group of 0.67, 0.41, and 0.10 for VO2max (p < 0.001). The sex-specific odds ratios were 0.25, 0.05, and 0.02 for women and 0.43, 0.19, and 0.03 for men (p < 0.001).
Conclusions:
These results, with current risk factor thresholds and a large number of women, demonstrate that low VO2max is associated with the MetSyn.
Perspective:
That cardiopulmonary fitness is inversely related to the MetSyn is expected. The study was much larger than most and more valuable since the investigators used the FRIEND percentiles, which adjusts high versus low fitness by VO2max by gender through a large range of ages.
Keywords: Blood Glucose, Cholesterol, HDL, Diabetes Mellitus, Exercise Test, Hypertension, Hypertriglyceridemia, Life Style, Lipoproteins, HDL, Metabolic Syndrome, Obesity, Abdominal, Oxygen Consumption, Physical Fitness, Primary Prevention, Risk Factors, Triglycerides
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