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 Based on their analysis, researchers conclude that only very high
levels of sedentary time - more than 10 hours per day - are linked
to an increased risk of heart attack, stroke or heart
disease-related death.
Compared to sitting for less than three of one’s waking hours each
day, more than 10 hours of sedentary time was tied to an 8 percent
increase in risk for developing heart disease.
“Our findings suggest that sedentary time is associated with
increased risk of cardiovascular disease, independent of other
potential risk factors such as body mass index and physical
activity, only at very high levels,” said lead author Dr. Ambarish
Pandey of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in
Dallas.
It hadn’t been clear exactly how much sedentary time should be
avoided to lower cardiovascular disease risk, Pandey told Reuters
Health by email.
The researchers analyzed data from nine long-term studies that had
followed more than 700,000 adults and calculated the association
between their inactive time and their incidence of events like heart
attack and stroke. “Sedentary time” included any low-activity
periods, like sitting, watching TV or driving.
Half of the studies followed people for more than 11 years. In total
there were 25,769 unique cardiovascular events.
People who were the most sedentary, about 12 hours per day, were 14
percent more likely than those who were sedentary only 2.5 hours per
day to develop cardiovascular disease. But more moderate sedentary
times were not tied to increased risk.
Risk only started to increase after more than 10 hours of sedentary
time per day, according to the results in JAMA Cardiology.
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“The types of relationship between sedentary time and cardiovascular
disease (CVD) events will provide different kind of recommendations
for the restriction of sedentary time to prevent CVD events in the
future,” said Yeonju Kim, a research specialist at the University of
Hawaii Cancer Center in Honolulu, who was not part of the new study.
But we’ll need more studies in addition to this review before
implementing a guideline, like limiting sedentary time to less than
10 hours per day, Kim told Reuters Health by email.
“There is previous literature to suggest that lower sedentary time
is associated with higher cardiorespiratory fitness levels, which
may underlie some of the observed association,” Pandey said.
Staying active and getting regular exercise can help lower
cardiovascular disease risk, he said.
“Increasing physical activity, avoiding prolonged sitting time,
workplace interventions such as sit-stand work stations and
activity-permissive desks may be useful to lower sedentary time,” he
added.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/29JyZNp JAMA Cardiology, online July 13, 2016.
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