Associations of Health-Related Physical Fitness with Waist Circumference and Abdominal Obesity Risk in Taiwanese Adults

Yun-Tsung Chen; Po-Fu Lee; Chi-Fang Lin; Yan-Jhu Su; Hui-Ling Chen; Pin-Chun Chen; Hsueh-Yi Lin; Chien-Chang Ho

doi:10.3390/healthcare10071164

Associations of Health-Related Physical Fitness with Waist Circumference and Abdominal Obesity Risk in Taiwanese Adults

Healthcare (Basel). 2022 Jun 22;10(7):1164. doi: 10.3390/healthcare10071164.

Authors

Yun-Tsung Chen¹, Po-Fu Lee^{2

3}, Chi-Fang Lin¹, Yan-Jhu Su⁴, Hui-Ling Chen⁵, Pin-Chun Chen⁶, Hsueh-Yi Lin², Chien-Chang Ho^{7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City 106, Taiwan.
² Department of Leisure Industry and Health Promotion, National Ilan University, Yilan County 260, Taiwan.
³ College of Humanities and Management, National Ilan University, Yilan County 260, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Gerontology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA.
⁵ Graduate Institute of Educational Leadership and Development, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 242, Taiwan.
⁶ Graduate Institute of Sports Training, University of Taipei, Taipei City 111, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Physical Education, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 24205, Taiwan.
⁸ Research and Development Center for Physical Education, Health and Information Technology, College of Education, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 24205, Taiwan.
⁹ Office of Physical Education, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 24205, Taiwan.

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to determine the associations among health-related physical fitness measurements, waist circumference (WC), and abdominal obesity risk in Taiwanese adults. We conducted a cross-sectional study based on data from the 2017 Taiwan Scientific Physical Fitness Survey (the TSPFS). We collected the responses from 17,973 participants (7907 men and 10,066 women) aged 23-64 years for this study. The participants completed the study protocol with a standardized structural questionnaire and a series of health-related physical fitness measurements. The fitness measurements included cardiorespiratory fitness (measured by a 3-min progressive knee-up and step test), muscular fitness (measured by a hand grip strength test), and flexibility (measured by a sit-and-reach test). Our anthropometric measurements included height, weight, WC, hip circumference (HC), body mass index (BMI), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). We identified the quartiles of the health-related physical fitness results as the dependent variable in the multiple linear and multiple logistic regression analysis to determine the associations of the physical fitness measurements with WC distribution and abdominal obesity risk. We also considered the dose-response relationship. We found that cardiorespiratory fitness, relative grip strength, and flexibility were each significantly negatively associated with WC, but absolute grip strength was significantly positively associated with WC. We also found that higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, relative grip strength, and flexibility were each associated with a lower risk of abdominal obesity. Moreover, our secondary finding was of a dose-response relationship between physical fitness performance, WC, and abdominal obesity risk. In short, health-related physical fitness was an effective predictor of waist circumference for both sexes of Taiwanese adults, and higher levels of health-related physical fitness were associated with lower risks of abdominal obesity in Taiwanese adults.

Keywords: adiposity; adults; physical fitness; waist circumference.

Grants and funding

109-2410-H-030-059/Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)