Associations Between Leisure-Time Physical Activity Level and Peripheral Immune Cell Populations in the US General Population, Analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data, 1999–2018

Background Chronic levels of inflammation are associated with higher risk of many chronic diseases. Physical activity (PA) lowers the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes and others. One mechanism for PA-induced protection may be through the immune system. We investigated the assoc...

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Published in:Sports medicine - open 2023-10, Vol.9 (1), p.101-12, Article 101
Main Authors: Lin, Dan, Thompson, Cheryl L., Ba, Djibril M., Muscat, Joshua E., Zhou, Shouhao, Rogers, Connie J., Sturgeon, Kathleen M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blood platelets
Chronic illnesses
Disease
Exercise
Exercise immunology
Inflammation
Leisure
Leukocytes
Lymphocytes
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mortality
Neutrophils
Original
Original Research Article
Physical activity
Regression analysis
Sports Medicine
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Summary:Background Chronic levels of inflammation are associated with higher risk of many chronic diseases. Physical activity (PA) lowers the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes and others. One mechanism for PA-induced protection may be through the immune system. We investigated the association between leisure-time PA and peripheral immune cell populations in a large nationally representative sample of the US general population. Methods A total of 17,093 participants [mean (SE) age of 41.6 (0.3) years] of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2018 were included. Self-reported leisure-time PA was converted to metabolic equivalent of task hours per week (MET-hrs/wk). White blood cell (WBC) count, WBC ratios, and platelet count were derived. Multivariable linear regression analyses were used to estimate associations between leisure-time PA level and peripheral immune cell populations. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to estimate associations between leisure-time PA and metrics of WBC count and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) which may predict mortality. Results A higher leisure-time PA level was associated with a lower WBC count (> 14.0 vs. 
ISSN:2198-9761
2199-1170
2198-9761
DOI:10.1186/s40798-023-00643-y