Association of domain-specific physical activity and sedentary behavior with cardiometabolic health among office workers

Objective Previous studies have reported opposite effects of occupational or non-occupational physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) on health outcomes. However, no study has investigated the relationship between domain-specific movement behaviors and cardiometabolic health (CMH) among office workers, considering the compositional nature of time-use data. We investigated the associations of accelerometer-measured PA and SB for each domain (working time, non-working time on workday, and non-workday) with CMH indicators among office workers, using compositional data analysis. Methods This cross-sectional study included 1258 Japanese office workers. The time spent on SB, light-intensity PA (LPA), and moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA) were assessed using an accelerometer. CMH indicators were retrieved from the annual health check-up data. Results Compositional multiple linear regression indicated that PA and SB during non-working time on workdays, but not working time or non-workdays, were significantly associated with CMH. In particular, during non-working time, time reallocations from SB to LPA and from SB to MVPA were associated with favorable changes in cardiometabolic risk score and lipid metabolism, respectively. Paradoxically, a greater proportion of LPA during non-working time was associated with favorable diastolic blood pressure (beta = 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.02, 3.19), whereas occupational LPA was detrimental (beta = -2.48; 95% CI = -4.87, -0.09). Conclusion Our results suggested that reducing SB and increasing PA during non-working time on workdays may be effective for managing CMH among office workers. Future longitudinal studies using compositional data analysis are required to confirm our results.