Abstract
BackgroundEvidence suggests that sitting time is adversely associated with health risks. However, previous epidemiological studies have mainly addressed mortality whereas little is known of the risk of coronary heart disease. This study aimed to investigate total sitting time and risk of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease incidence and all-cause mortality.MethodsIn the Danish Health Examination Survey (DANHES) conducted in 2007-2008 we tested the hypothesis that a higher amount of daily total sitting time is associated with greater risk of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality. The study population consisted of 71,363 men and women aged 18-99 years without coronary heart disease. Participants were followed for myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease and mortality in national registers to August 10, 2012. Cox regression analyses were performed with adjustment for potential confounders and multiple imputation for missing values.ResultsDuring a mean follow-up period of 5.4 years 358 incident cases of myocardial infarction, 1,446 of coronary heart disease, and 1,074 deaths from all causes were registered. The hazard ratios associated with 10 or more hours of daily sitting compared to less than 6 hours were 1.38 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.88) for myocardial infarction, 1.07 (95% CI: 0.91, 1.27) for coronary heart disease and 1.31 (95% CI: 1.09, 1.57). Compared to sitting less than 6 hours per day and being physically active in leisure time, the hazard ratios of sitting more than 10 hours per day and also being physically inactive in leisure time were 1.80 (95% CI: 1.15, 2.82) for myocardial infarction, 1.42 (95% CI: 1.11, 1.81) for coronary heart disease, and 2.29 (95% CI: 1.82, 2.89) for all-cause mortality.ConclusionsThe results suggest that a higher amount of daily total sitting time is associated with all-cause mortality, particularly among inactive adults. In relation to coronary heart, disease results were less clear. This paper adds new evidence to the limited data on the evidence of sitting time and cardiovascular disease and mortality.
Highlights
Evidence suggests that sitting time is adversely associated with health risks
A rapidly expanding body of evidence suggests that high amounts of daily sitting time are associated with increased risk of adverse health outcomes in adults, even among individuals who are physically active in leisure time [1,2,3]
We evaluated the rates of coronary heart disease (CHD) and all-cause mortality according to total sitting time in individuals meeting four criteria of healthy lifestyle: body mass index (BMI) < 25, not smoking, alcohol consumption below 14 drinks/week for women and 21 drinks/week for men, and being at least lightly physically active in leisure time
Summary
Evidence suggests that sitting time is adversely associated with health risks. previous epidemiological studies have mainly addressed mortality whereas little is known of the risk of coronary heart disease. This study aimed to investigate total sitting time and risk of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease incidence and all-cause mortality. Few studies have examined the association between sedentary behavior and incident coronary heart disease (CHD) [16,17,18,19,20] In three of such studies sitting time was measured as screen time or time spend watching television [16,19,20]. Evidence on the association between sitting time and CHD incidence is sparse and inconsistent For this reason, and because of the high public health relevance, the aim of this study was to investigate total sitting time and risk of myocardial infarction (MI), CHD and all-cause mortality in a large prospective cohort of both men and women
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