The study aimed to investigate the association between leisure time physical activity (LTPA) subtypes and cardiometabolic outcomes in the Singapore Multi-Ethnic Cohort (MEC). Self-reported data on socio-demographics, lifestyle factors , LTPA subtypes, and health screening data on body-mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP), triglycerides (TG), and HDL-and LDL cholesterol were collected. Multivariable linear regression analyses were used adjusting for confounders. The mean age of 9768 participants was 45.2 ± 12.5 years (57.3% female, 47.3% Chinese, 26.0% Malay, and 26.8% Indians). Overall, 65.8% engaged in LTPA, and walking, strength/fitness and running were most common. Higher total LTPA was associated with lower WC, DBP, TG, a trend towards lower BMI, and higher SBP and HDL. Running was beneficially associated with all outcomes except for SBP and LDL. Balance exercises (BMI, SBP and DBP), cycling (BMI, WC and HDL), and strength/fitness (BMI, WC, TG and HDL) were also favorably associated with a number of outcomes, whereas ball games (DBP and TG), dancing (HDL) and other LTPA (DBP) were only favorably associated with selected outcomes. Unfavorable associations were found for total LTPA (SBP), strength/fitness (SBP), golf (DBP) and swimming (BMI and WC). Further research is warranted to inform future health promotion efforts.
Keywords: body-mass index; exercise; hypertension; lipids; observational study.