Accelerometer-Derived "Weekend Warrior" Physical Activity and Incident Cardiovascular Disease

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Health
• Exercise Physiology
• Public Health

Background:

• Current guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) weekly for health.
• The optimal distribution of this activity (concentrated vs. spread out) remains unclear.
• The 'weekend warrior' pattern, where most MVPA occurs over 1-2 days, is a common behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the risk of cardiovascular events associated with the 'weekend warrior' physical activity pattern versus a more evenly distributed pattern.
• To examine associations between accelerometer-derived physical activity patterns and incident cardiovascular disease.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of UK Biobank participants (n=89,573) with accelerometry data.
• Categorization into 'active weekend warrior' (≥150 min MVPA, ≥50% in 1-2 days), 'active regular' (≥150 min MVPA, evenly spread), and 'inactive' (<150 min MVPA) groups.
• Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess associations with incident atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and stroke, adjusting for covariates.

Main Results:

• Both 'active weekend warrior' and 'active regular' patterns were associated with significantly lower risks of atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, and heart failure compared to the inactive group.
• Hazard ratios for these outcomes were similar between the 'active weekend warrior' and 'active regular' groups.
• Associations remained consistent when using a higher MVPA threshold (230.4 min/week), though stroke associations became non-significant at this higher threshold.

Conclusions:

• Concentrating physical activity into 1-2 days per week ('weekend warrior' pattern) is associated with a similarly reduced risk of cardiovascular outcomes as more evenly distributed activity.
• This suggests that achieving the recommended amount of physical activity, regardless of its distribution, is beneficial for cardiovascular health.
• The findings provide evidence supporting the effectiveness of both concentrated and regular physical activity for mitigating cardiovascular disease risk.