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CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 31, No 6, November/December 2020
308
AFRICA
to the young adults (36.8). Participants who spent more time in
sedentary behaviour were more hypertensive compared to the
ones who participated in light PA. The results also show that
41.1% of the participants had an increased CRP level with high
percentage scores in the sedentary groups.
The characteristics of the participants based on their PA status
are presented in Table 3. AEE, TEE, mean seven-day awake
METs and PAL differed significantly (
p
< 0.001). Sedentary
participants had a borderline significant (
p
= 0.06) larger WC
(99.32 ± 17.90 cm) than participants in the light-PA group (94.97
± 17.71 cm). Sedentary participants had significantly higher
ambulatory SBP (
p
= 0.02) and DBP (
p
= 0.001) than those who
participated in light PA. No significant CIMT differences (
p
=
0.13) and WHtR (
p
= 0.73) were observed between the sedentary
and light-PA groups
Analysis of differences among PA groups (Table 4) in male
teachers indicated a significant difference in PA status and AEE
(
p
> 0.001), TEE (
p
> 0.001), mean seven-day awake METs (
p
> 0.001) and PAL (p > 0.001). Sedentary male teachers had
significantly higher CRP values (
p
= 0.01), ambulatory SBP
(
p
= 0.01) and ambulatory DBP (
p
= 0.02) than males who
participated in light PA. Among female teachers there was a
significant difference in CIMT (
p
= 0.01) between the sedentary
and light-PA groups. The PA variables between the sedentary
and physically active groups were significantly different.
The value of correlation matrix
rho
indicated that within
the sedentary group (Table 5), there was a significant inverse
relationship between CIMT and PAL (
r
= –0.30;
p
= 0.01). In
the light-PA group, a significant positive relationship between
Table 3. Descriptive statistics of the total group of participants
according to PA groups and
p
-value for between groups
Variables
Activity
classification
n
Mean
±
SD
p
-value
Age (years)
Sedentary
71
48.73
±
9.32
0.26
Light PA 145
50.12
±
7.96
Height (cm)
Sedentary
71
170.04
±
10.32
0.36
Light PA 145
168.67
±
10.12
Weight (kg)
Sedentary
71
85.96
±
21.94
0.26
Light PA
145
82.52
±
18.36
BMI (kg/m
2
)
Sedentary
71
29.58
±
6.89
0.74
Light PA 145
29.26
±
6.30
WC (cm)
Sedentary
71
99.32
±
17.90
0.08
Light PA 145
94.97
±
14.71
WHtR
Sedentary
71
0.58
±
0.10
0.13
Light PA
145
0.56
±
0.09
Cholesterol (mmol/l)
Sedentary
71
4.59
±
1.13
0.20
Light PA 144
4.39
±
0.97
CRP (mg/l)
Sedentary
71
4.87
±
6.29
0.16
Light PA 143
3.69
±
4.34
AMBP SBP (mmHg) Sedentary
71
135.04
±
19.43
0.02
Light PA 145
126.62
±
15.68
AMBP DBP (mmHg) Sedentary
71
83.48
±
11.24
0.001
Light PA 145
78.07
±
10.18
CIMT (mm)
Sedentary
70
0.70
±
0.17
0.74
Light PA
145
0.71
±
0.14
Mean seven-day awake
METs
Sedentary
71
1.32
±
0.10
<
0.001
*
Light PA
145
2.28
±
0.62
AEE
(kcal/wk)
Sedentary
71
796.85
±
722.17
<
0.001
*
Light PA
145 1476.97
±
1124.39
TEE
(kcal/wk)
Sedentary
71 2814.87
±
843.07
<
0.001
*
Light PA
145 3482.10
±
1478.56
PAL
Sedentary
71
1.49
±
0.14
<
0.001
*
Light PA
145
2.34
±
0.62
AEE
=
activity energy expenditure; AMBP SBP
=
ambulatory systolic blood
pressure; AMBP DBP
=
ambulatory diastolic blood pressure; BMI
=
body mass
index; CIMT
=
carotid intima–media thickness; CRP
=
C-reactive protein; light
PA
=
light physical activity (1.5–3 METs); METs
=
metabolic equivalent of task;
sedentary
=
time spent sedentary (
<
1.5 METs); TEE
=
total energy expenditure;
PAL
=
physical activity level; WC
=
waist circumference; WHtR
=
waist-to-
height ratio. *Level of significance was set at
p
≤
0.05.
Table 4. Differences in the characteristics of the participants’ PA patterns
Variables
Males
Females
n Mean
±
SD
p-value of
the differ-
ences n Mean
±
SD
p-value of
the differ-
ences
Age (years)
Sedentary
46 49.22
±
9.57 0.55 25 47.84
±
8.98 0.28
Light PA
58 50.24
±
7.57
87 50.05
±
8.26
Height (cm)
Sedentary
46 175.01
±
8.69 0.07 25 160.90
±
5.90 0.25
Light PA
58 177.95
±
7.02
87 162.49
±
6.48
Weight (kg)
Sedentary
46 90.60
±
18.82 0.93 25 77.42
±
24.95 0.93
Light PA
58 90.88
±
14.60
87 76.95
±
18.56
BMI (kg/m
2
)
Sedentary
46 29.43
±
5.52 0.50 25 29.85
±
9.01 0.89
Light PA
58 28.77
±
4.11
87 29.58
±
7.42
WHtR
Sedentary
46 0.59
±
0.08 0.12 25 0.57
±
0.13 0.73
Light PA
58 0.57
±
0.06
87 0.56
±
0.10
WC (cm)
Sedentary
46 103.42
±
14.52 0.37 25 91.78
±
21.17 0.84
Light PA
58 101.09
±
11.26
87 90.88
±
15.37
Cholesterol (mmol/l)
Sedentary
46 4.72
±
1.15 0.10 25 4.36
±
1.08 0.83
Light PA
58 4.38
±
0.84
87 4.41
±
1.04
CRP (mg/l)
Sedentary
46 5.25
±
7.03 0.01* 25 4.18
±
4.72 0.62
Light PA
58 2.17
±
2.36
85 4.72
±
5.04
AMBP SBP (mmHg)
Sedentary
46 138.91
±
17.94 0.01* 25 127.92
±
20.39 0.42
Light PA
58 130.22
±
11.99
87 124.22
±
17.38
AMBP DBP (mmHg)
Sedentary
46 86.15
±
9.90 0.02* 25 78.56
±
12.09 0.27
Light PA
58 81.81
±
8.74
87 75.57
±
10.36
CIMT (mm)
Sedentary
46 0.75
±
0.16 0.99 25 0.59
±
0.12 0.01*
Light PA
58 0.75
±
0.16
87 0.68
±
0.12
AEE (kcal/wk)
Sedentary
46 808.39
±
752.47
<
0.001* 25 775.62
±
677.33 0.01*
Light PA
58 1839.40
±
1439.69
87 1235.34
±
771.65
TEE (kcal/wk)
Sedentary
46 2952.07
±
810.30
<
0.001* 25 2562.43
±
859.94 0.01*
Light PA
58 4032.46
±
1722.01
87 3115.20
±
1163.92
Mean seven-day
awake METs
Sedentary
46 1.29
±
0.10
<
0.001* 25 1.36
±
0.09
<
0.001*
Light PA
58 2.43
±
0.79
87 2.17
±
0.47
PAL
Sedentary
46 1.46
±
0.13
<
0.001* 25 1.55
±
0.14
<
0.001*
Light PA
58 2.47
±
0.76
87 2.25
±
0.49
AEE
=
activity energy expenditure; AMBP SBP
=
ambulatory systolic blood pressure;
AMBP DBP
=
ambulatory diastolic blood pressure; BMI
=
body mass index; CIMT
=
carotid intima–media thickness; CRP
=
C-reactive protein; METs
=
metabolic
equivalent of task; PAL
=
physical activity level; TEE
=
total energy expenditure; WC
=
waist circumference; WHtR
=
waist-to-height ratio. *Level of significance was set
at
p
≤
0.05.