High physical activity is associated with an improved lipid profile among male coal miners

Objective To investigate the association between dyslipidemia and physical activity among male coal miners of Shanxi Province in China. Methods 3 656 coal miners in Datong Coal Mine Group were collected by two-stage stratified cluster sampling method.The definition of dyslipidemia was based on the Chinese guidelines on treatment and prevention of dyslipidemia in adults. Self-reported physical activity was obtained with the international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ) and categorized into three tertiles of low-, moderate- and high-activity levels. Results The percentages of individuals with vigorous, moderate, and low physical activity (PA) levels were 17.65%, 15.18% and 67.17% respectively. After adjustment of the potentially confounding effects of age, body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), tobacco use, alcohol use, vigorous PA was associated with elevated TG(OR=0.72,95% CI:0.58-0.90), decreased HDL-C(OR=0.68,95% CI:0.55-0.84), elevated LDL-C(OR=0.68,95% CI:0.55-0.85), one abnormality (OR=0.68,95% CI:0.55-0.84),two abnormality(OR=0.67,95% CI:0.54-0.84)and four abnormality(OR=0.44,95% CI:0.20-0.97)(all P<0.05). However, moderate PA did not affect the different types of dyslipidemia(all P>0.05). Conclusions Our study suggested that appropriate high intensity of physical activity is a protective factor for dyslipidemia of male mine workers.