The association between physical activity and neck circumference with cardiovascular disease risk in older wheelchair users.
Jeonghyeon Kim, Inhwan Lee, Hyunsik Kang
PMID 38898678WHAT IT FOUND
Older wheelchair users with low physical activity and large neck circumferences had significantly higher estimated cardiovascular disease risk.
These factors remained independent predictors even when adjusted for each other. Screening for both activity levels and neck size may help identify high-risk patients.
Key findings
01Low physical activity was associated with high cardiovascular disease risk (OR = 3.429), remaining significant after adjusting for neck circumference (OR = 4.256).
02Large neck circumference was associated with high cardiovascular disease risk (OR = 3.810), remaining significant after adjusting for physical activity (OR = 3.645).
03Physical activity and neck circumference were significant determinants of estimated cardiovascular disease risk in multivariate linear regression.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The cross-sectional design prevents establishing cause-and-effect relationships between physical activity, neck circumference, and CVD risk. The small sample size (61 participants) relative to the number of covariates raises concerns about statistical overfitting in the regression models. The findings may not be generalizable to all older wheelchair users, particularly those outside the Korean population or with different disability profiles. Neck circumference was classified based on the study group's median (38 cm), which may not reflect standard clinical cutoffs for other populations.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. Funding was provided by a Research Grant from the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity and the Basic Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea, funded by the Ministry of Education.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that reducing neck circumference or increasing physical activity will directly lower cardiovascular disease risk based on this study alone. The cross-sectional design shows an association, not causation. Furthermore, the small sample size and specific demographic (Korean older adults with disabilities) limit the generalizability of these findings to other populations.