Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Original article
Associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and the metabolic syndrome in British men
  1. Lee Ingle1,
  2. Michelle Mellis2,
  3. David Brodie3,
  4. Gavin R Sandercock4
  1. 1Department of Sport, Health & Exercise Science, University of Hull, Kingston-upon-Hull UK
  2. 2Carnegie Faculty, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK
  3. 3Faculty of Health, Buckingham New University, Bucks, UK
  4. 4Centre for Sport & Exercise Sciences, University of Essex, Essex, UK
  1. Correspondence to Professor Lee Ingle, 003 Don Building, Department of Sport, Health & Exercise Science, University of Hull, Cottingham Road, Kingston-upon-Hull HU7 6RX, UK; L.Ingle{at}hull.ac.uk

Abstract

Background Age and body mass index (BMI) are positively associated with the development of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) can attenuate BMI-related increases in prevalence of MetS, but the nature of this association across different age strata has not been fully investigated.

Aim To identify the association between CRF and MetS prevalence across age strata (20–69 years) and determine whether associations are independent of BMI.

Methods CRF was estimated from incremental treadmill exercise in British men attending preventative health screening. Participants were placed in four age strata (20–39, 40–49, 50–59 and 60–69 years) and classified as fit or unfit using age-related cut-offs. The presence of MetS was defined using the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III criteria.

Results 9666 asymptomatic men (48.7±8.4 years) were enrolled. The prevalence of MetS was 25.5% in all men and ranged from 17.1% in those aged 20–39 years to 30.6% in those aged 60–69 years. Fit men's likelihood of meeting the criteria for MetS was half (OR=0.51, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.57) that of unfit men. The likelihood of MetS was 32–53% lower across age strata in fit, compared with unfit men. Adjustment for BMI attenuated the association, though it remained significant in men aged 20–49 years.

Conclusions The cardiometabolic benefits of CRF are independent of BMI particularly in men <50 years. Public health messages should emphasise the important role of CRF alongside weight management for enhancing cardiometabolic health.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Twitter Follow Michelle Mellis at @mgmellis

  • Contributors LI and GRS led the project and were responsible for research design, data analysis and drafting the manuscript; MM and DB were responsible for data acquisition and editing the manuscript.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Ethics approval Ethical approval was granted by the Faculty of Society and Health Ethics Committee, Buckinghamshire New University.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

  • Data sharing statement Data are available on request to the corresponding author.