Demographic, health behavior, and cardiometabolic risk factor profile in yoga and non-yoga participants: NHANES 1999-2006.

OBJECTIVE

To examine and compare the demographic, health behavior, and cardiometabolic risk factor characteristics of participants who report 1) participating in yoga, 2) not participating yoga, or 3) are inactive, using a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults.

DESIGN

Study participants were from the 1999-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) who self-reported participation in yoga (n = 74), no-yoga (n = 3,753) or were inactive (n = 1,285). Participants in the no-yoga group did engage in other types of physical activity, while the inactive group reported no activity during the survey period.

RESULTS

Yoga participants were primarily female (80.7%), college educated (51.9%), mostly non-smokers (46.9%), and reported moderate alcohol consumption (72.1%). Yoga participants were found to be significantly less likely to have an elevated waist circumference (OR = 0.40, p < 0.01; OR = 0.30, p < 0.01), and a low HDL (OR = 0.43, p = 0.03; OR = 0.34, p < 0.05) compared to both non-yoga participants and inactive individuals, respectively. Yoga participants were 61% less likely to have elevated blood glucose compared to non-yoga participants (OR = 0.39, p < 0.05). Compared to inactive individuals, yoga participants were 52% (OR = 0.48, p < 0.05) and 66% (OR = 0.34, p < 0.05) less likely have an elevated body mass index and have elevated triglyceride levels, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Given the emergence of yoga as a common form of physical activity, it is imperative to understand the characteristics of those who participate in yoga to further understand its relationship with cardiovascular risk. This study was one of the first to use nationally-representative data and objectively measured cardiometabolic variables. Key Words: complementary medicine, epidemiology, survey, population, physical activity, cardiovascular disease.