Effects of reduced sedentary time on cardiometabolic health in adults with metabolic syndrome: A three-month randomized controlled trial

Abstract

<h3>Objectives</h3><p>To investigate if reducing sedentary behavior improves cardiometabolic biomarkers in adults with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/metabolic-syndrome-x" title="Learn more about metabolic syndrome from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">metabolic syndrome</a>.</p><h3>Design</h3><p>Randomized controlled trial.</p><h3>Methods</h3><p>Sixty-four sedentary middle-aged adults with metabolic syndrome were randomized into intervention (INT; n = 33) and control (CON; n = 31) groups. INT was guided to limit sedentary behavior by 1 h/day through increased standing and light-intensity physical activity. CON was instructed to maintain usual habits. Sedentary behavior, breaks in sedentary behavior, standing, and physical activity were measured with hip-worn <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/accelerometer" title="Learn more about accelerometers from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">accelerometers</a> for three months. Fasting blood sampling and measurements of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/anthropometry" title="Learn more about anthropometrics from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">anthropometrics</a>, body composition, and blood pressure were performed at baseline and at three months. Linear mixed models were used for statistical analyses.</p><h3>Results</h3><p>INT reduced sedentary behavior by 50 (95% CI: 24, 73) min/day by increasing light-intensity and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (19 [8, 30] and 24 [14, 34] min/day, respectively). Standing increased also, but non-significantly (6 [−11, 23] min/day). CON maintained baseline activity levels. Significant intervention effects favoring INT occurred in fasting insulin (INT: 83.4 [68.7, 101.2] vs. CON: 102.0 [83.3, 125.0] pmol/l at three months), insulin resistance (HOMA-IR; 3.2 [2.6, 3.9] vs. 4.0 [3.2, 4.9]), HbA_1c (37 [36, 38] vs. 38 [37, 39] mmol/mol), and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/liver-enzyme" title="Learn more about liver enzyme from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">liver enzyme</a> <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/alanine-aminotransferase" title="Learn more about alanine aminotransferase from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">alanine aminotransferase</a> (28 [24, 33] vs. 33 [28, 38] U/l).</p><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>Reducing sedentary behavior by 50 min/day and increasing light-intensity and moderate-to-vigorous activity showed benefits in several cardiometabolic biomarkers in adults with metabolic syndrome. Replacing some of the daily sedentary behavior with light-intensity and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity may help in cardiometabolic disease prevention in risk populations.</p><p><br></p>