Associations Between Clinical Inflammatory Risk Markers, Body Composition, Heart Rate Variability, and Accelerometer-Assessed Physical Activity in University Students with Overweight and Obesity

Title data

Hoffmann, Sascha W. ; Schierbauer, Janis ; Zimmermann, Paul ; Voit, Thomas ; Grothoff, Auguste Maria ; Wachsmuth, Nadine ; Rössler, Andreas ; Niedrist, Tobias ; Lackner, Helmut K. ; Moser, Othmar:
Associations Between Clinical Inflammatory Risk Markers, Body Composition, Heart Rate Variability, and Accelerometer-Assessed Physical Activity in University Students with Overweight and Obesity.
In: Sensors. Vol. 25 (2025) Issue 5 . - 1510.
ISSN 1424-8220
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/s25051510

Related research data

• https://doi.org/10.3390/s25051510

Abstract in another language

This cross-sectional study aimed to identify associations between clinical inflammatory
risk markers, body composition, heart rate variability (HRV), and self-reported
and objectively assessed physical activity (PA) in university students with overweight
and obesity. Seventeen participants (eight females) completed a screening visit
following a randomized controlled four-arm crossover trial period with 8 h of uninterrupted
prolonged sitting, alternate sitting and standing, continuous standing, and continuous
slow walking, respectively. Clinical inflammatory risk markers were obtained from
venous blood samples, and PA was assessed using the International Physical Activity
Questionnaire (IPAQ-SF) and ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometers. HRV was recorded
over 24 h using the Faros 180 Holter electrocardiogram (ECG). White blood cell (WBC)
counts were significantly correlated with fat mass (FM; p = 0.03) and visceral adipose tissue
(VAT; p = 0.04) and inversely correlated with moderate PA (p = 0.02). Light-intensity
PA (LIPA) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) were correlated with HRV parameters
(p = 0.02), and LIPA was inversely correlated with interleukin-6 (p = 0.003) and c-reactive
protein (p = 0.04) during different trial conditions. In university students with overweight
and obesity, higher values of FM were negatively correlated with WBC count, and integrating
LIPA and MVPA in the students’ daily life strengthened their sympathetic–parasympathetic
regulation and positively mediated anti-inflammatory mechanisms.