Leisure-time physical activity at moderate and high intensity is associated with parameters of body composition, muscle strength and sarcopenia in aged adults with obesity and metabolic syndrome from the PREDIMED-Plus study.

Aims: We aimed to examine the associations of leisure-time physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) with the prevalence of sarcopenia, body composition and muscle strength among older adults having overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome, from the PREDIMED-Plus trial.

Methods: Cross-sectional baseline analysis including 1539 men and women (65 ± 5 y). Sarcopenia was defined as low muscle mass (according to FNIH cut-offs) plus low muscle strength (lowest sex-specific tertile for 30-s chair-stand test). We applied multivariable-adjusted Cox regression with robust variance and constant time (given the cross-sectional design) for the associations of self-reported leisure-time PA and SB with sarcopenia; and multivariable-linear regression for the associations with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)-derived bone mass, fat mass, lean mass and lower-limb muscle strength.

Results: Inverse associations were observed between sarcopenia and each hourly increment in total [prevalence ratio 0.81 (95% confidence interval, 0.70, 0.93)], moderate [0.80 (0.66, 0.97)], vigorous [0.51 (0.32, 0.84)], and moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) [0.74 (0.62, 0.89)]. Incrementing 1-h/day total-PA and MVPA was inversely associated with body-mass-index, waist circumference (WC), fat mass, and positively associated with bone mass and lower-limb muscle strength (all P <.05). One h/day increase in total SB, screen-based SB and TV-viewing was positively associated with body-mass-index, WC and fat mass. Light-PA was not significantly associated with any outcome.

Conclusions: Total-PA and PA at moderate and high intensities may protect against the prevalence of sarcopenia, have a beneficial role on body composition and prevent loss of muscle strength. SB, particularly TV-viewing, may have detrimental effects on body composition in older adults at high cardiovascular risk.