Association of the “Weekend Warrior” and Other Physical Activity Patterns with Metabolic Syndrome in the South Korean Population

Abstract

These days, it is not common for people to have time to do physical activities regularly because of their own work. So, they perform physical activities all at once, which is often called the “weekend warrior”. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the association of the “weekend warrior” and other physical activity patterns with metabolic syndrome. Data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used, and 27,788 participants were included. The participants were divided into inactive, weekend warriors, and regularly active based on physical activity patterns. The risk of metabolic syndrome in each group was analyzed using multiple logistic regression. The inactive and weekend warrior groups showed a higher likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome than the regularly active groups (weekend warrior: odds ratio (OR) 1.29, confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.65; inactive: OR 1.38, CI 1.25–1.53). According to the physical activity patterns, the weekend warrior group showed a dose-response relationship compared to the regularly active group (only moderate: OR 1.85, CI 1.25–2.72; only vigorous: OR 1.41, CI 0.93–2.14; both: OR 0.84, CI 0.56–1.27). This study found increasing the amount of physical activity and performing vigorous-intensity physical activity helped manage metabolic syndrome in the weekend warrior group.