The associations of weekend warrior and other physical activity patterns with the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality in people with diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease: from NHANES 2007–2020

To investigate the associations of the weekend warrior and other physical activity (PA) patterns with all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk in people with diabetes mellitus (DM) and chronic kidney disease (CKD).

This study pooled the data from NHANES 2007–2020. Participants with DM and CKD were included. PA was assessed using a self-reported questionnaire. According to the characteristics of recreational activities, individuals were categorized as inactive (no activities), insufficiently active (total PA duration <  150 min/week), weekend warrior (total PA duration ≥  150 min/week for 1–2 sessions), and regularly active (total PA duration ≥  150 min/week for ≥  3 sessions). Weighted Cox regression models with adjusting sociodemographic, behavioral, and metabolic factors were performed to investigate the relationship of PA patterns with all-cause and CVD mortality risk. Stratification and interaction analyses were further performed.

Among 1702 participants (46.53% female; 64 ± 0.46 years old), 536 died (163 cardiovascular) during the follow-up of 68 (39–104) months. The hazard ratio (HR) of all-cause death was 0.618 (95% CI 0.406–0.942) for insufficiently active PA pattern, 0.338 (95% CI 0.116–0.988) for weekend warrior PA pattern, and 0.536 (95% CI 0.395–0.726) for regularly active PA pattern compared with inactive PA pattern. HR of CVD death was 0.545 (95% CI 0.250–1.189) for the PA pattern of insufficiently active, 0.165 (95% CI 0.020–1.343) for weekend warrior, and 0.393 (95% CI 0.218–0.710) for regularly active compared with the inactive PA pattern. The associations present no difference in subgroups. Moreover, there was no discernible difference between weekend warrior and regularly active PA patterns for all-cause and CVD deaths. The risk of death declined relatively quickly When exercise was initiated and to a total of 450 min or 4 times per week.

In a population of DM and CKD, the weekend warrior pattern was similar to regular activity to lower the risk of all-cause mortality, compared with inactivity. The weekend warrior pattern was recommended for people who only have time to exercise on the weekend. However, longer and larger sample cohort studies are needed to validate our findings.