Associations of accelerometer-derived 'weekend warrior' physical activity pattern with incident sarcopenia and falls

To examine associations between accelerometer-derived active weekend warrior (WW) pattern [most moderate to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) achieved over 1-2 days] vs. MVPA spread more evenly with risks of incident probable sarcopenia, sarcopenia and falls.

This prospective cohort study comprises three substudies (probable sarcopenia, confirmed sarcopenia and falls). Objective physical activity data were collected from Axivity AX3 wrist-worn triaxial accelerometers on their dominant wrist for 7 consecutive days. Three MVPA patterns were compared: active WW (≥150 min/week and ≥50% of total MVPA over 1-2 days), active regular (≥150 min/week but not meeting active WW), and inactive (<150 min/week). Over 7.8 years median follow-up, there were 1785 (8.4%) incident (probable) sarcopenia, 1855 (8.7%) incident sarcopenia and 4166 (4.9%) incident falls. Compared to inactive participants, the effect sizes for active WW pattern at the guideline-based threshold with ≥50% of total MVPA over 1-2 days were: probable sarcopenia {hazard ratio [HR], 0.79 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.70-0.89], P = 1.5 × 10-4}, sarcopenia [HR, 0.74 (95% CI, 0.63-0.87), P = 6.6 × 10-4], falls [HR, 0.79 (95% CI, 0.72-0.85), P = 7.4 × 10-8] and recurrent falls [HR, 0.82 (95% CI, 0.75-0.90), P = 9.1 × 10-5]. The active WW pattern was associated with a 24%-32% reduction in the risk of (probable) sarcopenia, while active regular pattern was associated with a 12%-23% reduction in the risk. Regardless of the thresholds defining the active WW group, both activity patterns (active regular and active WW) showed a lower risk of falls.

Weekly physical activity concentrated in 1-2 days had a similarly low risk of sarcopenia and falls as a regular active pattern. Even resistance training 1-2 days per week can serve as an effective public-health strategy for preventing sarcopenia and falls.