Should physical activity recommendations for South Asian adults be ethnicity-specific? Evidence from a cross-sectional study of South Asian and white European men and women

Iliodromiti, S., Ghouri, N. , Celis-Morales, C. A. , Sattar, N. , Lumsden, M. A. and Gill, J. M.R. (2016) Should physical activity recommendations for South Asian adults be ethnicity-specific? Evidence from a cross-sectional study of South Asian and white European men and women. PLoS ONE, 11(8), e0160024. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160024) (PMID:27529339) (PMCID:PMC4987009)

Abstract

International public health guidelines recommend that adults undertake at least 150 min.week−1 of moderate-intensity physical activity. However, the underpinning evidence has largely been obtained from studies of populations of white European descent. It is unclear whether these recommendations are appropriate for other ethnic groups, particularly South Asians, who have greater cardio-metabolic risk than white Europeans. The objective of our study was to determine the level of moderate-intensity physical activity required in South Asians adults to confer a similar cardio-metabolic risk profile to that observed in Europeans of similar age and body mass index (BMI) undertaking the currently recommended levels of 150 min.week−1. 148 South Asians and 163 white Europeans aged 18 to 70 years were recruited. Physical activity was measured objectively via vertical axis accelerations from hip-worn accelerometers. Factor analysis was used to summarize the measured risk biomarkers into a single underlying latent “factor” describing overall cardio-metabolic risk. Sex did not modify the association between physical activity and the cardio-metabolic risk factor, so data for both sexes were combined and models adjusted for age, sex, BMI and accelerometer wear time. We estimated that South Asian adults needed to undertake 232 (95% Confidence interval: 200 to 268) min.week−1 in order to obtain the same cardio-metabolic risk factor score as a white European undertaking 150 minutes of moderate-equivalent physical activity per week. The present findings suggest that South Asian men and women need to undertake ~230 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per week. This equates to South Asians undertaking an extra 10–15 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity per day on top of existing recommendations.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gill, Professor Jason and Ghouri, Dr Nazim and Celis, Dr Carlos and Lumsden, Professor Mary and Iliodromiti, Dr Stamatina and Sattar, Professor Naveed
• Authors: Iliodromiti, S., Ghouri, N., Celis-Morales, C. A., Sattar, N., Lumsden, M. A., and Gill, J. M.R.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing
• Journal Name: PLoS ONE
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• ISSN (Online): 1932-6203
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2016 Iliodromiti et al.
• First Published: First published in PLoS ONE 11(8): e0160024
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License