Abstract P2131: The Association between Leisure Activities and the Risk of Cardiometabolic Multimorbidity among Older Chinese Adults

Background: Cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CMM) is becoming increasingly common in prehypertension patients and hypertension patients. Leisure activities play a vital role in preventing hypertension. However, its effect on CMM risk is unknown. Hypothesis: I hypothesized that leisure activities lower the risk of CMM among Chinese older adults. Methods: I included participants aged 65 and over from five waves (2002–2014) of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, with follow-up until 2018. Participants diagnosed with CMM at baseline year were excluded. CMM was identified as having at least two of the four diseases: hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, or cardiovascular disease. Leisure activities were measured by the frequency (never, sometimes, and almost daily) of eight activities, including housework, fieldwork, reading books or newspapers, playing cards and/or mahjong, TV and/or radio watching, gardening, petting, and social activities. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratio (HR), adjusting for demographics, lifestyles, and comorbidities. Results: Among 9,895 participants (mean age: 83.8 years; 55.3% female), 1,528 participants developed CMM during a median follow-up of 3.4 years (IQR: 3.0–6.2). Frequent participation in housework was associated with a lower risk of CMM (sometimes: HR 0.77, 95% CI 0.68–0.87; almost daily: HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.66–0.82), as was petting (sometimes: HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.63–0.86; almost every day: HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.60–0.76). In contrast, frequent TV and/or radio watching was associated with a higher risk of CMM (almost every day: HR 1.24, 95% CI 1.10–1.41). No significant associations were found between the risk of CMM and activities such as fieldwork, reading books or newspapers, playing cards and/or mahjong, gardening, or social activities. In the stratified analysis, the effect of almost daily housework and petting in reducing the risk of CMM was more pronounced among participants who frequently engage in physical exercise, while the effect of sometimes doing housework and petting was more pronounced among participants who never exercise. Conclusion: Frequent participation in housework and petting is associated with a lower risk of CMM among older Chinese adults, whereas activities such as TV and/or radio watching are linked to an increased risk. These findings underscore the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles by encouraging beneficial leisure activities in the older population.