Asociación entre la aptitud física y los factores de riesgo de síndrome metabólico en trabajadores de una institución universitaria

Objective: identify the association between physical aptitude and the metabolic syndrome risk factors in workers of an university institution. Design: this cross-sectional study included 147 workers, divided in two groups: low physical fitness ( 9,1 MET). Criteria from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) for metabolic syndrome evaluation and from the PF-A/PA-R questionnaire for the physical aptitude were taken in consideration as health indicators. Results: in the evaluated cohort, 47,3% (69 subjects) were men and 52,7% (78 subjects) women. Mean age was 35 ± 9,7 years (range 19 to 60 years) in the groups. Significant differences were found in the variables: systolic blood pressure, glycemia, cholesterol, triglycerides and arterial index in both groups and by gender, p=<0.05. Furthermore, in the higher physical fitness groups there was an inverse correlation with the metabolic syndrome risk factors such as BMI, waist cicumference, glycemia, triglycerides and arterial index in both genders. In men, correlations with the variable glycemia in the low physical fitness group, and with the arterial index in the high fitness group (r = -0,250, p=0.05), (r = 0,269, p=0,05) respectively, were found. Conclusion: a lower prevalence of the metabolic syndrome risk factors in the groups with high physical fitness is shown in the cohort population studied.