Physical activity patterns linked to metabolic syndrome in Korean adults

A survey-based study of 15,370 Korean adults identified four reproducible physical activity patterns. Compared with inactive adults, those active across multiple domains had lower odds of metabolic syndrome; occupational activity alone was not significantly associated with lower odds.

Four physical activity patterns were identified in Korean adults.
Active All-rounders had lower odds of metabolic syndrome.
Occupational activity alone was not significantly associated with lower odds.
The observational findings do not establish causality.

Researchers analyzed data from 15,370 adults aged 19 years or older in the 2022–2024 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Latent class analysis of nine physical activity and sedentary-behavior indicators identified activity patterns in a 2022–2023 discovery sample, with profiles independently assessed in a 2024 validation sample. Survey-weighted logistic regression examined associations with metabolic syndrome, adjusting for demographic, lifestyle and socioeconomic characteristics.

Four patterns were identified: Inactive (53.4%), Active All-rounders (22.8%), Active Commuters (18.8%) and Occupationally Active (5.0%). Profiles were highly reproducible, with correlations of 0.995–1.000 between corresponding discovery and validation profiles. Compared with the Inactive group, Active All-rounders had lower odds of metabolic syndrome (odds ratio [OR] 0.63, 95% CI 0.56–0.71). Active Commuters also had lower estimated odds (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.77–0.98), but this association did not meet the Bonferroni-corrected significance threshold. Occupationally Active adults did not have significantly different odds (OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.93–1.37).

The findings suggest that activity across multiple domains may be more closely associated with metabolic health than occupational activity alone. The observational analysis does not establish causality, and its findings in Korean adults may not generalize to other populations. The study was supported by a Yonsei University research grant; the authors reported no competing interests.

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BMC Public Health: Physical activity phenotypes identified by latent class analysis and their associations with metabolic syndrome among Korean adults ↗

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