Single and combined associations of accelerometer-assessed physical activity and muscle-strengthening activities on plasma homocysteine ina national sample.

Abstract

Aerobic exercise and resistance training (RT) are individually associated with positive health outcomes. It has been shown that combining both aerobic and RT exercise may produce greater outcomes than each type alone. Homocysteine has been shown to decrease with aerobic and RT exercise. However, no study has examined the combined effects of both types on homocysteine, which was the purpose of this study. Data from the 2003-2006 NHANES were used. Homocysteine values were obtained from a blood sample. Accelerometer-derived physical activity (PA) was measured using accelerometry, and MSA was measured via a questionnaire. Meeting the recommendations for accelerometer-derived PA was associated with lower homocysteine (βadjusted =-0·29; P=0·04), as was meeting the recommendations for MSA (βadjusted =-0·30; P=0·028). Compared to those meeting zero recommendations, there was no difference between those meeting 1 and those meeting both (P=0·08). Further, higher homocysteine was linked with increased all-cause mortality (HR=1·47; 95% CI: 1·29-1·69) and CVD-specific mortality (HR=1·48; 95% CI: 1·20-1·81). These results suggest that PA and MSA are associated with lower homocysteine and that there may be a dose-response relationship when combining both forms of exercise, which is an important finding as higher homocysteine is predictive of increased all-cause and CVD-specific mortality.