Leisure time physical activity in middle age predicts the metabolic syndrome in old age: results of a 28-year follow-up of men in the Oslo study

Table 1 Characteristics of men that attended the screening examinations in 1972/3 and 2000 (n = 6 382)

Risk factor		n	%	n	%
		Year 1972/3		Year 2000
Smoking	Never	1 602	25.1	1 595	26.7
	Previous	1 979	31	3 330	55.7
	Current	2 801	43.9	1 050	17.6
	Missing	-	-	407	-
Leisure time physical activity	Sedentary/light	1 111	17.4	754	17.9
	Moderate	3 810	59.7	2 700	63.7
	Moderately vigorous	1 317	20.6	735	17.3
	Vigorous	141	2.2	50	1.2
	Missing	3	-	2 143	-
Metabolic syndrome*		NA	NA	1 597	25
Antihypertensive drugs		-	-	2018	33.8
Diabetes§/P >		-	-	584	9.2
Blood pressure ≥ 130/85 mmHg		2 568	40.2	2 777	43.5
Blood glucose ≥ 6.1 mmol/l		1 497	23.5	1 073	19.4
BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m ²		162	2.5	797	12.5
Triglycerides ≥ 1.7 mmol/l		2 416	37.9	2 231	40.4
HDL cholesterol < 1.03 mmol/l		NA	NA	910	14.3

*The metabolic syndrome was defined if at least 3 out of 5 of the criteria were present: triglycerides ≥ 1.7 mmol/l, glucose ≥ 6.1 mmol/l, BMI ≥ 30.0 kg/m², blood pressure ≥ 130/85 mmHg, HDL cholesterol < 1.03 mmol/l.
§Diabetes was defined as self reported diabetes, use of antidiabetic medication including insulin or non-fasting glucose ≥ 11.1 mmol/l.
NA: inability to define MS according to NCEP III criteria due to missing HDL-C

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