Identifying associations between sedentary time and cardio-metabolic risk factors in working adults using objective and subjective measures: a cross-sectional analysis

Abstract

BackgroundSedentary behavior has been reported to be associated with metabolic and vascular health independent of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). In order to select appropriate options to measure sedentary behavior in practice and research settings, it is worthwhile to characterize the extent to which objective and subjective measures of sedentary behavior quantify adverse health risks in the same population. This cross-sectional analysis compared accelerometer-derived and self-reported sedentary time to identify their association with cardio-metabolic risk factors.MethodsCross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from 661 Japanese workers (145 women) aged 20–64 years. Participants wore a tri-axial accelerometer device for 10 consecutive days and completed the Japan Atherosclerosis Longitudinal Study Physical Activity Questionnaire. Data on body mass index, waist circumference, resting blood pressure, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, total:HDL cholesterol ratio, blood glucose, and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were obtained from annual health examinations.ResultsBoth accelerometer-derived and self-reported sedentary time were deleteriously associated with triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol, total:HDL ratio, and HbA1c after adjustment for potential confounders including MVPA. There were no significant differences in regression coefficients between the two measures. Thus, the magnitude of the associations of both measures with cardio-metabolic risk factors was similar, despite poor agreement between them. Occupational sedentary time was correlated with both measures of total sedentary time, and more consistently associated with cardio-metabolic risk factors than sedentary leisure time.ConclusionsBoth accelerometer and self-report measurements are similarly associated with cardio-metabolic risk factors in a Japanese working adult population. Subjective and objective measures of sedentary behaviors appear to capture different aspects of behaviors. Further efforts to establish data processing methods integrating objective and subjective measures are needed to more effectively assess sedentary time’s relationship to health outcomes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-1307) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Sedentary Behavior and Cardiovascular Risk in Older Adults: a Scoping Review

“…Similar to our findings, other studies have reported significant associations of SB with poor lipid profiles and non-significant associations between SB and blood pressure [34]. It appears, based on the results observed in this review and other studies, SB may have a stronger influence on blood lipids than blood pressure, although more research is needed to confirm this finding.…”

Assessing sedentary behavior using wearable devices: An overview and future directions

“…After reviewing their titles and abstracts, a total of 63 articles were excluded because of the following reasons: not reporting sedentary behavior (n = 22), special or patient populations (n = 16), incorporating children as subjects (n = 9), studies not conducted in Japan (n = 5), individual calibration or validation studies of wearable devices (n = 4), non-human subjects (n = 3), non-English articles (n = 2), and review or protocol articles (n = 2). The characteristics of the seven articles [22][23][24][25][26][27][28] that met the inclusion criteria are summarized in Table 2. Since this systematic review is based on a search done on a single database (the PubMed), caution should be observed in terms of comprehensiveness.…”

“…Of the seven articles reviewed in this study, 6 adopted the waist-worn Active style Pro tri-axial accelerometer [22][23][24][25][26][27] . The remaining article reported on the thighworn activPAL to develop and test an occupational sitting questionnaire 28) .…”

“…It also required 3 to 4 days of valid measurements. As shown in Table 2, wear time algorithms differed slightly among the studies; for example, Kim et al defined non-wear time as non-recorded period of ≥ 1 minute 23) , whereas Honda et al reported non-wear time as time periods of at least 60 consecutive minutes of non-recorded periods with allowance for up to two consecutive minutes of activities with intensity equal to 1.0 MET 24) . The latter algorithm seemed to be modified from the one adopted by the US National Health and Nutrition Survey 29) .…”

Sedentary Behavior Predicts Changes in Cardiometabolic Risk in Professional Workers

“…3). [7][8][9] Variations in time spent in sedentary and PA can be between 20% and 40% depending on the level of occupational PA. Workers in low PA professions such as technical/professional office work, research and development, teaching profession, and finance are at an increased risk of engaging in prolonged sitting at work. 10 However, current workplace wellness programs have primarily focused on promoting MVPA, 11,12 which is associated with substantial health benefits.…”