Sedentary Behavior, Physical Activity, and Cardiometabolic Risk Indicators: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Study on Women in the Postmenopausal Stage
Juan Espinosa-Montero, Mario E. Flores, Eric Monterrubio, Rosa Alicia Ávila, Ismael Campos, Carlos Alberto Aguilar-Salinas, Alejandra Jáuregui, Jorge Salmerón, Katia Gallegos-Carrillo, Nayeli MacíasBackground:
Postmenopausal women with a sedentary lifestyle and lower physical activity have a worse metabolic profile. Additionally, there is no consensus on the cut-off points to classify sedentary behavior (SED) and movement.
Objective:
To analyze the association between SED and cardiovascular risk indicators and the association between reclassifying SED as light physical activity (LPA) and body and truncal fat, glucose, insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and leptin.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study assessed SED and LPA
Results:
In this study of postmenopausal women with overweight or obesity, higher SED time (0.40 counts per minute [CPM]) was positively associated with adiposity and metabolic markers. Each 10% increase in SED time was associated with a 0.8% higher total body fat (ß = 0.8; 95% Confidende Interval (CI): 0.1, 1.5) and a 1.3 kg higher truncal fat mass (ß = 1.3; 95% CI: 0.4, 2.3), while women in the highest SED tertile showed higher insulin and leptin levels. Conversely, higher LPA was inversely associated with trunk fat (ß = 1.0; 95% CI: −1.8, −0.2) and leptin (ß = 3.0 µg/ML; 95% CI: −5.5,−0.5); 95% CI: −1.8, −0.2), particularly using a > 40 CPM threshold.
Conclusions:
SED is a risk factor for metabolic disorders and increased body fat among postmenopausal women, whereas LPA may be protective, even at low intensities.