Objectively Measured Total Physical Activity Rather Than Moderate-to-Vigorous Activity is Associated with Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Yup’ik Eskimo People

Regular physical activity is associated with reduced cardiovascular risk. Most physical activity recommendations to reduce cardiovascular risk focus on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) like brisk walking for 30 minutes per day. Physical activity is a complex exposure consisting of multiple subcomponents. The purpose of our analysis was to determine how subcomponents of physical activity measured with the combined heart rate – movement sensor Actiheart, are cross-sectionally related to cardiovascular risk factors in adult Yup’ik Eskimo people living a subsistence lifestyle in southwestern Alaska (descriptives in Table 1). We used generalized linear models to predict BMI, waist circumference, body fat, mean arterial pressure (MAP), triglycerides, LDL & HDL cholesterol, and fasting glucose from accelerometry counts/day (CPD), MVPA (time spent at >174% resting heart rate), and sedentary time. All models also included age, sex, and activity monitor weartime as covariates. Results are shown in Table 2. Results were similar in each sex. CPD was the only physical activity variable significantly independently associated with any of the cardiovascular risk variables. CPD was significantly associated with all of the cardiovascular risk factors except for LDL cholesterol and fasting glucose. Higher CPD can be accumulated through maintaining frequent low intensity activity or through less frequent but higher intensity bouts of activity. These results suggest that regular movement of any intensity may be a more important target for reducing cardiovascular risk instead of focusing only on MVPA.