The relationship between physical activity status and selected coronary heart disease risk factors amongst employees in a South African financial institution

Abstract

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of mortality in many countries. Of particular concern is the corporate environment, given the link of CHD with an increase in employee illness, absenteeism, high medical cost and decreased productivity. This study assessed the relationship between physical activity index (PAI) and selected CHD risk factors (body mass index [BMI], systolic blood pressure [SBP], diastolic blood pressure [DBP], total cholesterol [TC], glucose [Glu], smoking, and CHD risk index [CHDRI]) amongst employees of a South African financial institution. The study sample consisted of 9,269 (62%) women and 5592 (38%) men (20 – 60 years), categorised on the basis of gender and age (cut-point of 45 years to represent the pre- and post-clinical horizons as well as the pre- and postmenopausal status in females). All groups (age and gender based) were at risk of the following CHD predisposing factors; BMI, PAI, SBP and elvated CHDRI. Data were analysed with Pearson’s correlation and Cohen’s effect size (d) methods using SAS and statistica softwares. A small practical significance was found between PAI status and BMI (d = 0.15), SBP (d = 0.04) and DBP (d = 0.06) in females and males ≤ 45, with a medium practical significance for the same risk factors in females and males > 45 years (d = 0.31, 0.27 and 0.27, respectively). Highly physically active employees had low mean values for BMI, blood pressure and CHDRI compared to low and moderately active participants. Significant weak positive correlations were found between PAI with BMI (r=.05; p<0.001) in women ≤ 45 years, and PAI with BMI (r=.11; p<.001), SBP (r=.11; p=0.001), and DBP (r=.11; p<.001) in women >45 years. In men, significant weak positive correlations were found between PAI with SBP (r=.03; p=.03), DBP (r=.06; p<.001), Chol (r=.05; p=.001), and Glu (r=.03; p<.03) in men ≤ 45 year, and PAI with BMI (r=.08; p=.03) in men >45 years. Moderate significant positive (p<.0001) correlations were observed between PAI with CHDRI in women (r=0.48; ≤ 45 years and r=.46; >45); and CHDRI in men (r=.52; ≤ 45 and r=.52; >45 years). These results implicate the need for individual behavioural/lifestyle changes focused on promoting healthy body composition and increasing physical activity levels, which could be the leading strategy for reducing CHDRI amongst the corporate employees.