Physical activity and relationship with coronary heart disease risk factors

Physical activity was recorded as walking in kilometers per week during leisure time and at work in a random sample of 1205 Athenian adults and was correlated to the coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors. In general, a low level of physical activity was found in daily life. In particular, 53% of the men and 73% of the women examined walked less than 7 km/week. No difference in walking distance was observed among the 10-year age groups, for both sexes. In men, the logarithm (log) of walking was significantly correlated with log triglycerides (r = -0.0971, p = 0.0185), total lipids (r = +0.0927, p = 0.0246), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) concentration in mg/dl (r = +0.0842, p = 0.0409), very low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (VLDL-C) concentration in mg/dl (r = -0.1149, p = 0.0052), alpha-lipoproteins as percentage of total lipoproteins (r = +0.0809, p = 0.0497) and pre-beta-lipoproteins as percentage of total lipoproteins (r = -0.1024, p = 0.0129). In women, respectively, log walking was significantly correlated with age (r = -0.1318, p = 0.0011), body mass index (BMI) (r = -0.1459, p = 0.0003), maximal heart rate (r = +0.1181, p = 0.0281), diastolic blood pressure (r = -0.1153, p = 0.0043), cigarette smoking (r = -0.810, p = 0.0448), log triglycerides (r = -0.1468, p = 0.0003), total lipids (r = -0.1415, p = 0.0004), VLDL-cholesterol concentration in mg/dl (r = -0.1475, p = 0.0002), total/HDL cholesterol ratio (r = -0.0968, p = 0.0165), alpha-lipoproteins as percentage of total lipoproteins (r = +0.1141, p = 0.0047), pre-beta-lipoproteins as percentage of total lipoproteins (r = -0.1324, p = 0.0010), urea (r = -0.1035, p = 0.0107) (r = +0.01221, p = 0.0107) and uric acid (r = -0.1221, p = 0.0026). Using a stepwise multiple linear regression analysis model, it was found that log walking was significantly and independently associated with alpha-lipoproteins as percentage of total lipoproteins in men (positive association) and with BMI in women (negative association).