Cardiovascular Risk Factors Assessment Of Middle-aged Urban Females With Different Physical Activity Levels

Object:The object of this research is to investigate the cardiovascular risk of Beijing urban middle-aged females with different physical activity (PA) levels, evaluating the cardiovascular risk of those females and predicting the potential relationship between their PA levels and cardiovascular risk.Method:Four hundred and sixty nine females aged from forty to forty-nine participated in the questionnaire surveys, in which the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), including job related physical activity, transportation physical activity, household physical activity and leisure time physical activity, was used for the PA survey. Two hundred and four asymptomatic females among those who participated in the questionnaire surveys were selected and divided into three groups (low, moderate and high PA group) according their PA levels; and trained researchers measured their height, weight, waist circumference (WC), fasting blood glucose (FBG), blood lipids, including triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), blood pressure, pulse wave velocity (PWV), ankle brachial index (ABI) and some other cardiovascular risk factors. Then the three groups of women would participate exercise tests, which were conducted using an electronic, rate-independent cycle ergometer. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was measured directly by recording respiratory gas exchange. Electrocardiograms (ECG), heart rates (HR), blood pressure (BP), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), were recorded during the test.Results:The results showed that there were significant differences in the total energy expenditure of PA, the total sitting time and the ratios of job related physical activity, transportation physical activity and household physical activity(P<0.01) between different PA groups; and there was a significant correlation between total sitting time and the fatness (P<0.01). Significant differences were also found in FBG, PWV and ratios of high cardiovascular risk population between different PA groups, and in FBG, TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, BP and PWV between different fatness groups. In addition, there were significant differences in ST segment depression in exercise ECG between different PA groups (P<0.05), and the ratios of abnormal exercise ECG were lowest in the moderate group; although there were no significant differences in the relative V02max, the CRF was higher in the moderate and high PA groups.Conclusion:The physical activity levels of Beijing urban middle-aged females were at the relative high level; the relative risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cardiovascular risk in exercise are lowest in moderate active females; moderate to high intensity PA might have positive effect on CVD protection and could lower the cardiovascular risks of middle-aged urban females during exercise.