Effects of a 12-Week Hatha Yoga Intervention on Cardiorespiratory Endurance, Muscular Strength and Endurance, and Flexibility in Hong Kong Chinese Adults: A Controlled Clinical Trial

Table 1

Demographic characteristics of participants, by gender (N = 173).

Characteristics	Men; (n = 64)	Women; (n = 109)
	M ± SD or (%)
Age, years	53.59 ± 8.02	51.04 ± 6.97	0.029
Marital status, %^†
Single	2 (3.1)	25 (22.9)	0.050
Married	57 (89.1)	84 (77.1)
Widowed	5 (7.8)	0 (0)
Education level, %^†			<0.001
No education	0 (0)	1 (0.9)
Primary	0 (0)	10 (9.2)
Secondary	29 (45.3)	70 (64.2)
Tertiary	35 (54.7)	28 (25.7)
Occupation, %^†			0.973
Full-time	37 (57.8)	56 (51.4)
Part-time	1 (1.6)	9 (8.3)
Unemployed	2 (3.1)	0 (0)
Housewife	0 (0)	30 (27.5)
Retired	24 (37.5)	14 (12.8)
Medication use, %
Antidiabetic			0.489
Yes	10 (15.6)	13 (11.9)
No	54 (84.4)	96 (88.1)
Antihypertensive			0.118
Yes	14 (21.9)	36 (33.0)
No	50 (78.1)	73 (67.0)
Lipid lowering			0.146
Yes	6 (9.4)	19 (17.4)
No	58 (90.6)	90 (82.6)
Smoking, %^†			<0.001
Current	3 (4.7)	0 (0)
Quitted	10 (15.6)	1 (0.9)
Never	51 (79.7)	108 (99.1)
Alcohol intake, %^†			0.004
Quitted	2 (3.1)	0 (0)
Never	18 (28.1)	55 (50.5)
Sometimes	40 (62.5)	52 (47.7)
Always	4 (6.3)	2 (1.8)
Physical activity level, MET-minutes/week	1450.86 ± 918.85	1936.63 ± 1926.52	0.041
HRQoL
Physical function (PF)	91.09 ± 10.96	85.00 ± 11.30	0.001
Role physical (RP)	88.67 ± 23.12	81.64 ± 29.59	0.085
Bodily pain (BP)	70.55 ± 21.35	64.52 ± 20.70	0.065
General health perceptions (GH)	60.16 ± 11.41	61.24 ± 12.25	0.566
Physical component score (PCS)	310.47 ± 47.30	292.31 ± 56.03	0.031
Vitality (VT)	69.14 ± 13.99	64.45 ± 16.82	0.050
Social functioning (SF)	87.89 ± 14.26	85.21 ± 18.72	0.290
Role emotional (RE)	85.42 ± 29.02	78.59 ± 34.10	0.164
General mental Health (MH)	78.06 ± 12.75	75.71 ± 14.74	0.288
Mental component score (MCS)	320.51 ± 53.10	303.96 ± 70.87	0.083
Body measurements
SBP, mmHg	132.52 ± 18.21	129.11 ± 18.69	0.244
DBP, mmHg	79.56 ± 11.01	78.57 ± 11.41	0.576
BMI, kg/m^2	24.83 ± 3.65	25.37 ± 4.08	0.388
Outcome measures
Cardiorespiratory endurance
Resting heart rate, bpm	67.17 ± 9.14	69.88 ± 9.53	0.069
VO2max, mL/kg/min	32.97 ± 6.71	25.50 ± 5.01	<0.001
Muscular strength and endurance
Curl-ups, times	21.25 ± 5.50	20.18 ± 5.19	0.204
Push-ups, times	8.17 ± 8.09	1.84 ± 3.83	<0.001
Flexibility
MBS left leg, cm	44.34 ± 13.15	51.85 ± 9.62	<0.001
MBS right leg, cm	44.30 ± 13.71	51.63 ± 9.89	<0.001

The total percentage may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.
BMI: body mass index; DBP: diastolic blood pressure; HRQoL: health-related quality of life; MBS: the modified back-saver sit-and-reach test; SBP: systolic blood pressure; VO_2max: maximal oxygen uptake.
^†Variables were regrouped for analyses as follows: marital status (single + widowed versus married), education level (No education + primary + secondary versus tertiary), occupation (full-time + part-time versus unemployed + housewife + retired), smoking (current + quitted versus never), and alcohol intake (quitted + sometimes + always versus never).