Prolonged sitting and lying can increase heart problems

The study looked at links between sedentary behavior or sitting for long periods of time and the risk of specific heart problems.

The study, titled "Sedentary Behavior Measured by Accelerometer and Risk of Future Cardiovascular Disease," involved 89,350 participants who wore an accelerometer on their wrists for one week.

Risks of prolonged sitting

Dr. Shaan Khurshid, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-author of the study, highlights the risks associated with prolonged sitting.

"Our findings support reducing time spent sitting to reduce cardiovascular risk, with 10.6 hours per day being a potentially key threshold associated with higher heart failure and cardiovascular mortality," Khurshid told the American College of Cardiology (ACC).

The sedentary group - those who sit more than 10.6 hours a day - have a 40% higher risk of heart failure. Even among the sedentary but active group - individuals who sat more than 10.6 hours a day but did more than 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a week - the risk of heart failure was 15% higher, the study found.

Dr. Harlan M. Krumholz, Harold H. Hines Jr. professor at Yale School of Medicine and editor-in-chief of JACC, outlined the implications of the study.

"This study adds to the growing evidence of the strong association between sedentary behavior and cardiovascular health," Krumholz said.

He added that the findings underscore the need to "get people moving to promote better health."

In terms of cardiovascular disease mortality, the group of people who engaged in sedentary activities faced a 54% higher risk, while the group of people who engaged in sedentary activities but were active had a 33% higher risk.

The study was presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2024.

However, limitations noted by the ACC include the inability to determine why participants were sitting or lying down for prolonged periods of time and the potential inaccuracies of accelerometers in detecting posture, which could lead to misclassification of active or sedentary time. | BGNES