In
the study, published on Friday in the Journal of the American College
of Cardiology, researchers found that sitting for a long period is
linked with “future adverse cardiovascular outcomes, with particularly
prominent effects on heart failure and cardiovascular mortality”.
A recent study indicates that sitting for more than 10.6 hours a day
raises the risk of heart disease, even among individuals who meet the
recommended 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA)
per week.
In the study, published on Friday in
the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers found
that sitting for a long period is linked with “future adverse
cardiovascular outcomes, with particularly prominent effects on heart
failure and cardiovascular mortality”.
A team of researchers in the Mass General Brigham health care system
analysed activity-tracker data from 89,530 UK Biobank participants,
examining sedentary behaviour’s impact on atrial fibrillation, heart
attacks, heart failure, and cardiovascular death.
Participants wore a triaxial accelerometer on their wrists for over
seven days to track movement. After a median 8-year follow-up, analysis
revealed that risks for atrial fibrillation and heart attack steadily
increased over time.
About 5% of study participants developed atrial fibrillation, 2.1%
developed heart failure, 2% had a heart attack, and a little less than
1% died from cardiovascular-related causes.
“Our findings really emphasize the importance of avoiding excess
sitting… whether or not you’re physically active,” said Ezim Ajufo, the
first study author and a cardiology fellow at Brigham and Women’s
Hospital in Boston.
“We would really recommend that as many people as possible avoid sitting
more than 10.6 hours a day. That’s not a hard and fast threshold, but
we think it’s a reasonable first step for guidelines and public health
intervention.”
However, Ajufo said the research has some limitations. “The study is
also observational, which means that while it can make associations, it
can’t prove that sitting was the cause of the heart disease,” said the
first study author.
The researchers recommended standing or walking for a few minutes every
30 to 60 minutes or transitioning between tasks with short walks.
“Exercise is critical, but avoiding excessive sitting appears separately important,”
said Patrick Ellinor, the co-senior author, cardiologist and
co-director of the Corrigan Minehan Heart Center at Massachusetts
General Hospital.
“Our hope is that this work can empower patients and providers by
offering another way to leverage movement behaviors to improve
cardiovascular health.”
Also speaking, Shaan Khurshid, another co-senior author and an
electrophysiologist and faculty member in the Telemachus And Irene
Demoulas Family Foundation Center for Cardiac Arrythmias at
Massachusetts General Hospital, said: “our data supports the idea that
it is always better to sit less and move more to reduce heart disease
risk, and that avoiding excessive sitting is especially important for
lowering risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death”.
Keith Diaz, an associate professor of behavioural medicine at Columbia
University Medical Center, who was not involved in the study, revealed
that more research is needed to determine the specific risks and
guidelines for what constitutes too much sitting.
