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Objective Analysis of Movement Behaviours and Cardiometabolic Health in Sub-Saharan Africans Living in the UK: A
Damilola A Ibirogba1, Luis S Andalco2, Matteo Crotti3
1Clinical Sciences and Translational Medicine Research Group, Centre for Discoveries in Life Sciences Coventry University Coventry UK.
Background And Aims:
Movement behaviours, including sedentary behaviour (SB), physical activity (PA), and sleep, play a crucial role in cardiometabolic health. This study evaluated their relationships and assessed the effects of reallocating SB to different PA intensities.
Methods:
This cross-sectional study conducted between March 2024 and March 2025, included 75 individuals from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (51% female; mean age: 40 ± 10 years). Time (minutes/day) spent in the different movement behaviours was determined using wrist-worn accelerometers (GENEActiv, UK). Cardiometabolic outcomes included body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), HDL cholesterol, total: HDL cholesterol ratio, random glucose, and cardiorespiratory fitness. Pairwise correlations and compositional analyses were performed to investigate associations between movement behaviours and cardiometabolic outcomes.
Results:
The median daily movement composition (minutes) was sleep (346), SB (672), LPA (112), and MVPA (96). MVPA showed a moderate inverse relationship with total cholesterol and was the only movement category associated with cardiorespiratory fitness. Sleep duration showed an inverse relationship with BMI and WC. Reallocating 30 min of SB to sleep, LPA, or MVPA did not result in significant changes in cardiometabolic outcomes (p > 0.05 for all comparisons).
Conclusion:
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity showed the most consistent associations with favourable cardiometabolic markers, suggesting it may play a particularly important role in cardiometabolic health among this population. However, these benefits may be dependent on prolonged exposures. Sleep regulation may also contribute to the management of adiposity.
