Abstract

Abstract Purpose Worldwide, it is estimated that physical inactivity causes 6% of the burden of disease from coronary heart disease. The metabolic syndrome is associated with a 2-fold increase in cardiovascular outcomes and a 1.5-fold increase in all-cause mortality. Eight risk factors (alcohol use, tobacco use, high blood pressure, high body mass index, high cholesterol, high blood glucose, low fruit and vegetable intake, and physical inactivity) account for 61% of cardiovascular deaths. The purpose of the study was to examine the association between meeting physical activity recommendation during travel physical activity (TPA) and diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome among adults (MetS). Methods Data were collected from the 2009-2010 Chilean National Health Survey (CNHS). Travel PA domain was measured with the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ), and participants were classified into “active” or “insufficiently active” categories according to WHO recommendations. Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) cases was defined by the presence of at least 3 of the following 5 risk factors: blood pressure > 130 / 85 mmHg, waist circumference over 88 cm (men) or 83 cm (women), HDL cholesterol < 40 mg/dL (1.03 mmol/L) in males and < 50 mg/dL (1.29 mmol/L) in females, fasting plasma glucose (FPG) ≥ 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) and/or Triglycerides level: ≥ 150 mg/dL (1.7 mmol/L). Results Out of 2412 participants, 46.9% were classified as active and 33.6% had MetS. They spent a mean average of 45.2 min/day on Travel PA; the subjects who were not diagnosed with MetS spent a mean average of 54.5 min/day on LTPA (p<0.001). The crude association between MetS and Travel PA had an odds ratio (OR) of 0.74 (95% CI 0.62 - 0.87), and after adjusting for all of the confounding variables, the OR was 0.72 (95% CI 0.59 – 0.87). Moreover, when analyzing each risk factor for MetS; active participants and active females had 22% (95% CI 0.64 – 0.95) and 21% (95% CI 0.62 – 0.99) less probabilities when adjusted, for hypertriglyceridemia and elevated waist circumference, respectively, than those insufficiently active. Conclusions The results of this study contributes to the evidence showing that Travel PA is a lifestyle activity that can easily be incorporated into everyday life without the need for supervised exercise. In addition these results contributes to the limited evidence in Latin-American middle income countries.