Cross-sectional relationship of pedometer-determined ambulatory activity to indicators of health

OBJECTIVE: To describe the cross-sectional relationship between an objective measure of walking (pedometer-determined steps/day) and general indicators of health, a prior diagnosis of one or more components of the metabolic syndrome, and self-reported occupational activity in a generally sedentary working population. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Steps/day were compared with previous diagnosis of one or more components of the metabolic syndrome (by self-administered questionnaire) and with general health indicators including BMI, waist circumference, resting heart rate, and blood pressure in 182 subjects in Prince Edward Island, Canada. Study participants were volunteer employees recruited from five workplaces where, in general, the job types were moderately or highly sedentary. RESULTS: Steps/day were 7230 +/- SD 3447 for women (n = 153) and 8265 +/- 2849 (n = 21) for men. Pedometer-determined steps/day were associated inversely with BMI (r = -0.4005, p < 0.0001) in all participants and waist circumference in females only (r = -0.4303, p < 0.0001). There was a low correlation between steps/day and diastolic blood pressure in the whole sample (r = -0.2140, p = 0.0383). Participants who reported a prior diagnosis of one or more components of the metabolic syndrome (hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, heart disease, or type 2 diabetes) took fewer steps/day than healthy participants (p = 0.0254). Pedometer-determined steps/day were positively associated with self-reported occupational activity (p = 0.0002). DISCUSSION: Fewer steps/day are associated with increased BMI, waist circumference, diastolic blood pressure, and components of the metabolic syndrome. Low occupational activity is a contributing factor to low total ambulatory activity.