J Nutr Health.  2022 Aug;55(4):506-520. 10.4163/jnh.2022.55.4.506.

Association between physical activity measured using an accelerometer and arterial stiffness based on pulse wave velocity and ankle-brachial index in healthy adults

• Lee H
• Park KW
• Jun HY
• Gwak JY
• Kim EK

• KMID: 2532910
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4163/jnh.2022.55.4.506

Abstract

Purpose
Physical activity (PA) has a beneficial effect on the prevention of arteriosclerosis in healthy adults. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between PA measured using an accelerometer and arterial stiffness in healthy Korean adults.
Methods
This study involved 87 subjects (36.8% women) aged 20–64 years. PA was evaluated using an accelerometer (wGT3X-BT, ActiGraph, Florida, USA) for 7 days. Based on the results of the accelerometer measurement, subjects were classified into active and inactive groups according to the World Health Organization (WHO) PA guidelines. The brachial–ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and ankle-brachial index (ABI) to assess arterial stiffness were measured by a non-invasive vascular screening device (VP-1000 Plus, Omron).
Results
The average age of the study subjects was 47.7 ± 11.3 years and the WHO PA guideline achievement rate was 29.9%. There was no significant difference in arterial stiffness (baPWV and ABI) between the active and inactive groups. In females, the time spent in light PA were positively correlated with ABI (r = 0.396; p < 0.05) and the number of sedentary bouts over 50 minutes was inversely correlated with ABI (r = −0.402; p < 0.05). However, there was no significant correlation between PA and arterial stiffness in males.
Conclusions
The results of this study suggest that light PA and sedentary behavior have a positive correlation with arterial stiffness in females.

Keyword

physical activity; accelerometry; arterial stiffness; pulse wave velocity; ankle brachial index