Moderate-intensity physical activity (PA) is recommended for health benefits, but optimal PA timing regarding cardiovascular disease (CVD) is debated.
The authors assessed the impact of differing PA patterns on CVD risk factors and outcomes.
Data from 2 surveys (S1 and S2) of the CoLaus-PsyCoLaus study (2,465 and 1,692 participants, respectively; 55.3% [54.3%] females; mean age 61.2 ± 9.7 years [64.4 ± 9.5]), conducted in Lausanne, Switzerland. PA was assessed using a wrist-worn accelerometer, and PA patterns were assessed using K-means clustering.
Morning PA was positively associated with hypertension (multivariable-adjusted OR: 1.36 [95% CI: 1.00-1.84]) in S1, similar trend in S2. No significant association was found between PA clusters and total, HDL-, and LDL-cholesterol or triglycerides. Morning PA was positively associated with hypolipidemic drug treatment: 1.88 (1.07-3.30) in S2. Evenly distributed daily PA was positively associated with diabetes: 1.82 (95% CI: 1.06-3.12) in S2, with a similar trend in S1. In the outcome analysis, the early morning PA cluster (7 am-12 am) and the evenly distributed daily PA cluster led to a higher risk of CVD events (HR: 3.33 [95% CI: 1.08-10.3] and 3.16 [95% CI: 1.04-9.57], respectively).
In a population-based study, we observed a higher risk for cardiovascular events in participants whose daily PA occurred predominantly in the early morning (7 am-12 am) or was evenly distributed throughout the day. No PA pattern was consistently associated with hypertension, blood lipids, or diabetes markers.