Sitting more Than 10 Hours May Put Heart Health at Risk: Study Suggests
More time spent sitting, reclining or lying down during the day may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and death, according to a study in JACC, the flagship Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2024. More than roughly 10-and-a-half hours of sedentary behavior per day was significantly linked with future heart failure (HF) and cardiovascular (CV) death, even among people meeting recommended levels of exercise.
“Our findings support cutting back on sedentary time to reduce cardiovascular risk, with 10.6 hours a day marking a potentially key threshold tied to higher heart failure and cardiovascular mortality,” said Shaan Khurshid, MD, MPH, a cardi
heart health,cardiovascular disease,journal of the american college of cardiology,myocardial infarctionologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and co-senior author of the study. “Too much sitting or lying down can be harmful for heart health, even for those who are active.”
This study examined the amount of sedentary time at which Cardiovascular disease risk is greatest and explored how sedentary behavior and physical activity together impact the chances of atrial fibrillation (AF), heart failure (HF), myocardial infarction (MI) and cardiovascular mortality.
Among the 89,530 study participants of the UK biobank, the average age was 62 years and 56.4% were women. Participants submitted data from a wrist-worn triaxial accelerometer that captured movement over seven days. The average sedentary time per day was 9.4 hours.
After an average follow-up of eight years, 3,638 individuals (4.9%) developed incident atrial fibrillation, 1,854 (2.1%) developed incident heat failure, 1,610 (1.84%) developed indecent myocardial infarction and 846 (0.94%) died of cardiovascular causes, respectively.
The effects of sedentary time varied by outcome. For atrial fibrillation and myocardial infarction, the risk increased steadily over time without major shifts. For heart failure and cardiovascular mortality, increase in risk was minimal until sedentary time exceeded about 10.6 hours a day, at which point risk rose significantly, showing a “threshold” effect for the behavior.
For study participants who met the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity or more, the effects of sedentary behavior on atrial fibrillation and myocardial infarction risks were substantially reduced, but effects on higher risk of heart failure and cardiovascular mortality remained prominent.
Reference: Ajufo, E., Kany, S., Ramo, J., Churchill, T., Guseh, J., Aragam, K., ... & Khurshid, S. (2024). Accelerometer-Measured Sedentary Behavior and Future Cardiovascular Disease. Circulation, 150(Suppl_1), A4124709-A4124709.
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