Leisure-time activity and 15-year metabolomic trajectories in a Helsinki birth cohort
In the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, higher leisure-time physical activity in late midlife was associated in men, but not women, with a more favorable 15-year trajectory of a triglyceride-enriched HDL metabolomic module. This is an association, not proof of cause. [1]
Automatic summary · not editorially reviewed
The key findings
The Helsinki Birth Cohort Study included 1816 participants at baseline (mean age 61.6 years), with 985, 996 and 740 at the 5-, 10- and 15-year follow-ups. [1]
In men, baseline leisure-time activity was associated with the age-related trajectory of a triglyceride-enriched HDL module; the high-activity group declined significantly versus low and moderate groups. [1]
No associations were found in women, and the authors describe associations with metabolomic trajectories, not causal effects. [1]
The source at a glance
- Study type / format
- Observational cohort study (abstract)
- Population / context
- 1816 Helsinki Birth Cohort Study participants at baseline, mean age 61.6 years, followed up to 15 years.
- Summary based on
- Study abstract
- Original publication
- August 1, 2026
Cohort of 1816 followed over 15 years
The study included 1816 Helsinki Birth Cohort Study participants at baseline (mean age 61.6 years). At the 5-, 10- and 15-year follow-ups, 985, 996 and 740 participants remained. Leisure-time physical activity was assessed at baseline and after 15 years with a validated questionnaire and expressed as METhours per week. Fasting blood samples were analyzed with nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics for 161 biomarkers at baseline and each follow-up. Analyses were sex-stratified, covariate-adjusted and corrected for multiple testing.
Supporting source [1]
Men showed a favorable HDL-module trajectory
The researchers grouped the metabolomic data into 11 biomarker modules. Over the follow-up, baseline leisure-time activity was associated with the age-related trajectory of a triglyceride-enriched high-density lipoprotein (HDL) module in men (age × activity interaction p = .041). In the high-activity group, this trajectory declined significantly compared with the low-activity group (p = .004) and the moderate-activity group (p = .045). No such associations were found in women. At baseline, activity was nonlinearly associated with albumin in women and with 9 biomarkers in men only in the crude, not the fully adjusted, model.
Supporting source [1]
Abstract-only scope and association limits
The authors conclude that in men higher leisure-time activity in late midlife predicted a favorable 15-year trajectory of triglyceride-enriched HDL, and that an active lifestyle is associated with more favorable metabolomic trajectories related to cardiometabolic health. These are associations from an observational cohort, not evidence that activity causes the changes. Only the abstract was reviewed; the full text was not reviewed, so details of the questionnaire, covariates and module composition are not confirmed here.
Supporting source [1]
How to interpret this
Abstract only; the full text was not reviewed. This is an observational cohort, so associations do not establish causation, and details of the questionnaire, covariates and modules are not confirmed here.
Based on the study abstract; the full paper, tables and supplementary data were not reviewed.
Source & supporting passages
Ruutu K, Verbeeren J, Mikkola TM, Laine MK, Eriksson JG, Wasenius NS. · europepmc.org · August 1, 2026