The potential harms of sedentary behaviour on cardiometabolic health are mitigated in highly active adults: a compositional data analysis.

Background: Insufficient physical activity and sedentary behaviour (SB) are important factors that determine cardiometabolic health and the development of non-communicable diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the modifying effects of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) on the association between SB and cardiometabolic health within highly active adults.

Methods: In a cross-sectional design, 61 (male/female: 41/20) highly trained adults (age: 33.6 ± 10.7 years; BMI: 22.4 ± 2.3 kg/m²) performed a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test from which indicators for peak performance were determined. Physical activity and SB were assessed using the activPAL3™ accelerometer. In addition, anthropometrics, blood pressure, plasma lipids and insulin sensitivity were assessed. These cross-sectional associations between a daily movement behaviour composition and cardiometabolic health parameters were investigated using a compositional data analysis approach.

Results: Participants spent 600 ± 86 min/day in SB and engaged in almost 1.5 h per day of MVPA. No association was found between SB and cardiometabolic health related variables, whereas MVPA (β = 8.07 ± 2.18; r² = 0.544; p < 0.001) was only significantly associated with oxygen uptake, relative to all other remaining behaviours.

Conclusion: No associations were found between the time spent in SB and cardiometabolic health related outcomes, possibly due to the high amount of time spent in MVPA within highly active adults.

Trial registration: The present study was registered on the 14th of January 2022 at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04711928).