Effects of Abdominal Obesity and Health Related Physical Fitness in Arterial Stiffness of Korean Males / 대한스포츠의학회지

The purpose of this study was to find out the relationship between waist circumference, muscular strength, flexibility, and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). Furthermore, the cut-off values of the physical fitness factors according to the baPWV were also calculated. The study was derived with total of 1,562 males (1,116 middle-aged and 446 old-aged). They were tested participant's baPWV, waist circumference, cardiopulmonary fitness, grip strength and flexibility. The results of this study is that the baPWV of the middle-aged men did not show significant changes in relationship with the waist circumference and physical fitness factors. The old-aged group with normal abdominal fat and high physical fitness level (group 4) showed significant baPWV values in comparison to those with waist circumference and low physical fitness levels (group 1); cardiorespiratory fitness p=0.026, grip strength p=0.000, flexibility p=0.000. The cut-off values of the physical fitness such as cardiorespiratory fitness, grip strength, flexibility according to the baPWV were 31.2 mL/kg/min (area under curve [AUC], 0.692; p=0.027), 37.0 kg (AUC, 0.588; p=0.014), and 1.0 cm (AUC, 0.589; p=0.014), respectively. In conclusion, these results demonstrate that waist circumference, cardiorespiratory fitness as well as muscular strength and flexibility effect inversely on arterial stiffness.

The Prevalence of the Metabolic Syndrome and Cut-off Values of Power and Flexibility in Elderly Males / 대한스포츠의학회지

The purpose of the study was to find out the age-adjusted odds ratio of the metabolic syndrome and the associated cut-off values of the physical fitnessfactors of the elderly males in their 60s and 70s. 477 participants were tested for the cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max), power, flexibility as well as blood battery and abdominal circumference for the metabolic syndrome status. As a result, 32.2% of the participants had metabolic syndrome with the associated cut-off values of the power and flexibility as 29.0 cm (areas under curve [AUC]: 0.57, p=0.029) and 0.6 cm (AUC: 0.54, p=0.028), respectively. The cardiorespiratory fitness showed no significant difference prevalence rate between groups. The prevalence rate was calculated by dividing the participants into high and low groups. The metabolic syndrome prevalence rate for the low power group was 1.63 (p<0.030) and low flexibility group was 2.01 (p<0.002). The cardiovascular fitness showed no significant prevalence rate.