Long sitting bouts linked to increased cancer risk
Each additional hour of prolonged, uninterrupted sedentary behavior in a person's day is associated with a 9% higher risk of cancer death, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine by Frederick Ho of the University of Glasgow, UK, and colleagues.
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Previous studies have shown that spending more total time in sedentary behavior, such as sitting, reclining or lying down while awake, is linked to poorer health outcomes. However, most sedentary behavior guidelines focus on total time spent sedentary, rather than whether that time is accumulated in many short intervals or fewer prolonged intervals.
In the new study, researchers analyzed data from 91,292 UK Biobank participants who wore activity monitors for seven days and were followed for a median of 12.38 years afterward. Activity was categorized as either prolonged sedentary behavior (bouts of at least 30 minutes with at least 90% of time sedentary), interrupted sedentary behavior (which lasted less than 30 minutes or was broken up with more than 10% nonsedentary time), or varying degrees of physical activity.
Prolonged sedentary behavior was associated with a higher risk of cancer mortality (HR 1.09; 95% CI 1.06, 1.11), overall cancer incidence, obesity-related cancers (such as esophageal, liver, kidney, pancreatic, colorectal, breast, ovarian and thyroid cancers), and type 2 diabetes-related cancers.