Short-term lifestyle intervention program through daily walking improves circulatory low HDL level in rural Bangladeshi women

Non-communicable disease (NCD) is now a burning public health issue in Bangladesh. Among crucial NCD risk factors, widespread low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels is of top concern in Bangladesh. Over the last ten years, through an extensive nationwide investigation in Bangladesh, we found that more than 80% apparently healthy rural women in Bangladesh have low HDL-C levels. Thus, the present study investigated whether a lifestyle intervention program through daily walking could improve the low HDL-C levels in these women. A total of 231 rural women in Bangladesh were studied using an interventional approach, and analysis was performed based on a case-control design between low HDL-C and normal HDL-C. The subjects underwent a ten-week daily walking program (1.5 km walk twice a day). Among 231 participants at baseline, those with low HDL-C levels were 82.5%. Mean total HDL-C levels were 39.4 mg/dl in low HDL-C subjects and 56.1 mg/dl in normal HDL-C subjects, respectively, at baseline levels. The percentage of hypertriglyceridemia was 25.5% in low, and 10.3% in normal HDL-C subjects and the percentage of diabetes mellitus was 16.4% in low and 7.7% in normal HDL-C subjects before the exercise intervention. Although blood glucose levels and blood pressure were not changed significantly after the exercise intervention, low HDL-C levels were significantly improved with exercise (baseline, 39.8 ± 0.56; exercised, 46.3 ± 1.01, p < 0.001). The current research findings show that even a 10-week mild exercise program improved low HDL-C levels in rural Bangladeshi women, which can be a potential strategy for the prevention of NCD.