On January 19, 2024, the journal JAMA Network Open published the results of a study assessing the impact of sedentary during working hours on cardiovascular disease mortality. In addition, the authors analyzed the possibility of reducing the potentially negative impact of sedentary work by increasing the level of physical activity during free time.
The study included 481,688 people (mean age 39.3±12.8 years, 53.2% women), mean follow-up time was 12.85±5.67 years. All included persons were divided into three groups depending on the nature of the work (mostly sitting, alternating sitting and nonsitting, and mostly nonsitting). The level of physical activity during non-working hours was analyzed, and a personal activity intelligence (PAI)–oriented metric was also assessed.
During an average follow up of nearly 13 years, 26,257 participants died; more than half (57%) of the deaths occurred in individuals who mostly sat at work. There were 5371 CVD-related deaths, with 60% occurring in the mostly sitting group.
According to multivariate analysis (adjusted for gender, age, level of education, smoking status, drinking and body mass index), adults who mostly sat at work had a 16% higher risk of dying of any cause (hazard ratio [HR], 1.16; 95% CI, 1.11-1.20) and a 34% increased risk of dying of CVD (HR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.22-1.46) compared with those who mostly did not sit at work.
Adults who mostly alternated between sitting and not sitting at work were not at increased risk of all-cause mortality compared with individuals who mostly did not at work (HR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.97-1.05).
Increasing activity by 15 and 30 minutes per day, respectively, lowered the risk for mortality to a level similar to that of inactive individuals who mostly do not sit at work.
When analyzing PAI, for individuals with a PAI of 100 to 149 and greater than 150, the HRs for mostly sitting and nonsitting at work were similar. For PAI of 100 to 149, the HR was 0.77 (95% CI, 0.72-0.82) for sitting vs 0.74 (95% CI, 0.64-0.85) for nonsitting. For PAI greater than 150, the HR was 0.70 (95% CI, 0.65-0.75) for sitting vs 0.69 (95% CI, 0.62-0.78) for nonsitting.
"Overall, our findings from a large prospective cohort help to strengthen the increasingly accumulating evidence linking a sedentary lifestyle and health risks," the authors wrote.
In conclusion, the authors believe that the results obtained will help optimize the work regime and, accordingly, prevent the development of cardiovascular and other diseases.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2814094
