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Objectively measured sedentary behavior and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on the health-related quality of life in US adults: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003–2006

Quality of Life Research volume 26, pages 1315–1326 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) represents an individual’s perception of physical, mental, and social well-being and is a strong predictor of health status. Few studies have examined associations of sedentary behavior (SB) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with HRQOL in the general population.

Purpose

This study aimed to determine combined associations of objectively measured SB and MVPA on the risk of poor HRQOL in the general US population, after controlling for potential confounding factors.

Methods

We analyzed data from 5359 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003–2006. HRQOL was measured using a HRQOL-4 consisting of four questions focused on the self-perception of general health, physical health, mental health, and activity limitation. We dichotomized each HRQOL-4 component as good versus poor and defined poor overall HRQOL when participants had any poor HRQOL components. SB and MVPA were measured using an accelerometer. Survey logistic models were examined to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for poor HRQOL by SB and MVPA as tertiles.

Results

When examined as a combination of SB and MVPA, a substantial decrease in the risk of poor overall HRQOL was found in individuals with low SB/high MVPA [OR 0.69 (95% CI 0.51–0.94) and moderate SB/high MVPA (OR 0.56 (95% CI 0.40–0.78)], but no significant decrease was found in individuals with high SB/high MVPA (vs. high SB/low MVPA).

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that both increasing MVPA and reducing time spent in SB may be useful strategies to improve HRQOL.

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Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

CDC:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CI:

Confidence interval

HRQOL:

Health-related quality of life

MEC:

Mobile examination center

METs:

Metabolic equivalents

MVPA:

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity

NCHS:

National Center for Health Statistics

NHANES:

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

OR:

Odds ratio

SB:

Sedentary behavior

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Acknowledgements

This study analyzed using the data provided by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003–2006.

Funding

This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korea Ministry of Education (Grant Numbers 2013R1A6A3A04059556 and 2014R1A1A2059106). The funders had no role in this study design, data collection, and analysis and prepared all results.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine, Gachon University College of Medicine, 155 Getbeol-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 21999, Republic of Korea

    Junghoon Kim, Jeong-Soo Im & Yoon-Hyeong Choi

  2. Gachon Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology, Incheon, Republic of Korea

    Yoon-Hyeong Choi

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  1. Junghoon Kim
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Correspondence to Yoon-Hyeong Choi.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Kim, J., Im, JS. & Choi, YH. Objectively measured sedentary behavior and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on the health-related quality of life in US adults: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003–2006. Qual Life Res 26, 1315–1326 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-016-1451-y

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Keywords

  • Sedentary behavior
  • Physical activity
  • Health-related quality of life
  • NHANES