Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour on Cardiovascular Risk and Health-Related Quality of Life in Adults: A Systematic Review

Background: This systematic review analysed the association between objectively measured physical activity and sedentary behaviour with cardiovascular risk and HRQoL in adults without previous CVD. Additionally, we analysed the impact of the intensity of the physical activity in this association.

Methods: The search was carried out in three electronic databases with access until February 2023 to find studies with an observational design. For quality assessment, we used The National Institute of Health (NIH) Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies.

Results: We identified 5819 references, but only five studies were included. One study shows a positive association between physical activity and HRQoL, while sedentary behaviour was negatively related to HRQoL. Another study showed an association between high-intensity physical activity with a better physical component of HRQoL and low-intensity physical activity with a better mental component of HRQoL. Three studies concluded that higher levels of physical activity are associated with lower levels of cardiovascular risk and higher levels of sedentary behaviour are associated with higher levels of cardiovascular risk.

Conclusion: Our findings suggested that people who spend more time being active and spend less time being sedentary appear to have lower cardiovascular risk and higher HRQoL.