Using Daily Steps to Identify Older Adults with (Un)healthy Joint Profiles of Sedentary Time and Physical Activity: A Starting Point

Abstract Herein, we investigated whether daily steps can discriminate between older adults with unhealthy and healthy joint profiles of sedentary time (ST) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Apparently healthy community-dwelling older adults aged 60–80 years were included in this cross-sectional analysis (n = 258). Daily steps, ST, and MVPA were assessed by accelerometry. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to test the performance of daily steps in identifying older adults with unhealthy (high ST/low MVPA) and healthy (low ST/high MVPA) joint profiles of ST/MVPA. The cardiovascular disease risk of unhealthy/healthy profiles was compared using a continuous metabolic syndrome score (cMetS). Daily steps discriminated older adults with unhealthy (AUC 0.892, 0.850–0.934; cut-off: ≤5,263 steps/day; sensitivity/specificity: 82.5%/81%) and healthy (AUC 0.803, 0.738–0.868; cut-off: ≥7,134 steps/day; sensitivity/specificity: 79.5%/66.2%) joint profiles of ST/MVPA. The unhealthy profile showed a higher cMetS (β = 0.46; p = 0.008). Likewise, older adults who fell below the daily steps cut-off point to identify the unhealthy profile of ST/MVPA exhibited a higher cMetS (β = 0.34; p = 0.004). In summary, our results provide a starting point for considering daily steps as a single heuristic metric for identifying older adults with a joint profile of high ST/low MVPA, which makes them more susceptible to CVD.