A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Association between Physical Activity and Visceral Adipose Tissue Accumulation in a Multiethnic Cohort

Table 1

Sociodemographic variables and physical activity measures stratified by ethnicity.

	Chinese	European	South Asian	𝑃 value for overall comparison	𝑃 value for Chinese versus European	𝑃 value for; Chinese versus; South Asian	𝑃 value for South Asian versus European
Males	95 (46%)	99 (49%)	101 (51%)	—	—	—	—
Age	47.0 ± 8.2	49.8 ± 9.1	44.6 ± 8.4	<0.001	0.004	0.014	<0.001
Education
Less than high school	21 (10.1%)	9 (4.5%)	26 (13.1%)
High school	39 (18.8%)	32 (15.9%)	52 (26.1%)
Some postsecondary	14 (6.7%)	33 (16.4%)	26 (13.1%)	<0.001	—	0.014	0.002
Postsecondary	94 (45.2%)	99 (49.3%)	62 (31.2%)
Graduate	40 (19.2%)	28 (13.9%)	31 (15.6%)
Smoking status
Never smokers	170 (81.7%)	94 (46.8%)	179 (90.0%)
Current smokers	7 (3.4%)	15 (7.5%)	7 (3.5%)	<0.001	<0.001	—	<0.001
Former smokers	31 (22.8%)	92 (45.8%)	13 (6.5%)
Waist circumference (cm)	83.1 ± 9.6	89.0 ± 12.9	88.6 ± 12.4	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	—
Visceral adipose tissue (cm^2)*	90.02; (84.10, 96.35)	97.81; (90.74, 105.53)	111.16; (103.86, 118.99)	<0.001	—	<0.001	0.037
Subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (cm^2)*	211.66; (198.74, 225.43)	256.21; (237.94, 275.89)	295.30; (276.72, 314.82)	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	0.011
Total body fat (kg)	21.3 ± 7.1	26.6 ± 10.8	28.3 ± 10.3	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	—
Moderate PA (min/week)*	121.4; (101.1, 140.7)	198.9; (168.4, 235.0)	95.3; (80.4, 113.0)	<0.001	<0.001	—	<0.001
Vigorous PA (min/week)*	10.9; (8.0, 14.5)	21.2; (16.0, 27.8)	15.9; (11.8, 21.1)	0.005	0.004	—	—
Moderate-vigorous PA (min/week)*	165.7; (143.6, 191.1)	263.9; (228.4, 307.7)	143.8; (124.2, 166.3)	<0.001	<0.001	—	<0.001

Variables presented as value (%) for categorical variables or mean ± standard deviation for continuous variables.
Variables presented as mean ± standard deviation or *geometric mean (95%CI) if data non-normally distributed.
𝑃 value nonsignificant presented as—Moderate PA was significantly correlated with VAT in Europeans (𝑟=−0.213, 𝑃=0.002) and Chinese (𝑟=−0.239, 𝑃=0.001), with total body fat in Europeans (𝑟=−0.114, 𝑃=0.041), and with SAAT in none of the ethnic groups (Table 2). Vigorous PA was correlated with VAT in Europeans (𝑟=−0.363, 𝑃≤0.001), Chinese (𝑟=−0.181, 𝑃=0.009), and South Asians (𝑟=−0.217, 𝑃=0.002), with total body fat in Europeans (𝑟=−0.334, 𝑃≤0.001) and South Asians (𝑟=−0.149, 𝑃=0.035), and with SAAT in Europeans (𝑟=−0.285, 𝑃≤0.001). MVPA was significantly correlated with all body fat measures in all ethnic groups (Table 2).