Associations between muscle-strengthening exercise and prevalent chronic health conditions in 16,301 adults: Do session duration and weekly volume matter?

Associations between muscle-strengthening exercise and prevalent chronic health conditions in 16,301 adults: Do session duration and weekly volume matter?

Objectives: Muscle-strengthening exercise (MSE) has multiple health benefits and is part of the global physical activity guidelines. However, with epidemiological research largely focussing on participation frequency (times/week), little is known about the health associations of other parameters. Hence, this study aimed to determine if MSE duration and volume are associated with prevalent chronic health conditions.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Methods: Cross-sectional data (n = 16,301 adults ≥16 years) were pooled from the Health Survey for England (2012, 2016). Respondents self-reported MSE mode (own-bodyweight, gym-based), duration and volume, and the prevalence of five chronic conditions (diabetes, anxiety/depression, heart, respiratory, or musculoskeletal condition). Poisson regressions with robust error variance were used to calculate the prevalence ratios (PR) of each chronic condition (outcome variable) across MSE parameters [exposure variables: duration (0 [reference]; 10–20; 21–59; ≥60 min/session); and volume (0 [reference]; low <mean; high ≥mean minutes/week)] for each mode and the modes combined.

Results: Most adults (81.5%) did no MSE. Undertaking any MSE regardless of mode, duration or volume was associated with a reduced likelihood of diabetes (APRs 0.25–0.39), heart (APRs 0.32–0.60), respiratory (APRs 0.49–0.67), and musculoskeletal conditions (APRs 0.43–0.63), and anxiety/depression (APRs 0.46–0.68). Associations remained after adjustment for potential socio-demographic and behavioural confounders.

Conclusions: While participation in own-bodyweight or gym-based-strength MSE is low, irrespective of mode, duration or volume, MSE was associated with a lower prevalence of chronic health conditions. Studies with longitudinal study designs are needed to confirm these cross-sectional findings.

File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author.

This article is part of a UniSQ Thesis by publication. See Related Output.