Nutr J. 2026 Jul 6. doi: 10.1186/s12937-026-01358-y. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: To examine the associations between the active-to-inactive transition probability (AITP) and incident cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) based on accelerometer-measured physical activity data.
METHODS: Our study included 77,571 participants with accelerometer-measured physical activity data from the UK Biobank. Cox proportional hazards models were used to investigate the associations of AITP with incidence of heart failure (HF), atrial fibrillation (AF), coronary heart disease (CHD), and composite CVD (an outcome encompassing all three conditions). Residuals from a restricted cubic spline regression of AITP on total physical activity volume were used as adjusted-AITP to explore additional information beyond volume.
RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 7.7 years, we documented 1133, 2796, 3514, and 5948 incident cases of HF, AF, CHD, and composite CVD, respectively. Compared with the lowest quartile of AITP, the highest quartile exhibited greater risks of incident HF (HR = 1.47, 95%CI: 1.25-1.72), AF (HR = 1.27, 95%CI: 1.14-1.41), CHD (HR = 1.18, 95%CI: 1.07-1.29), and composite CVD (HR = 1.23, 95%CI: 1.14-1.32) after controlling for all covariates. Each interquartile range increase in AITP was associated with a 9-20% higher risk of CVDs. Furthermore, higher adjusted-AITP remained associated with 11-24% increased risks of AF, CHD, and composite CVD.
CONCLUSIONS: Higher level of physical activity fragmentation was associated with higher risks of CVDs compared with lower physical activity fragmentation, even after accounting for total physical activity volume, suggesting that fragmentation could provide additional information for CVD prevention beyond physical activity volume.
PMID:42402585 | DOI:10.1186/s12937-026-01358-y