Sitting too much increases your risk of death, especially in middle and lower income countries

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-06-16 01:00

International

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Spending a long time sitting each day increases your risk of heart disease and death, according to international researchers. The team studied just over 100,000 people from 2003 to 2001, and say those who sat for eight or more hours a day over that time had a 17% to 50% higher risk of death or major heart problems like heart attacks or stroke compared to those who sat for less than four hours a day. This difference in risk was higher in lower- and middle-income countries, they say, but can be somewhat countered by increasing physical activity.

Media release

From: JAMA

About The Study: In this study including 105,000 participants from 21 countries, high amounts of sitting time were associated with increased risk of all-cause death and cardiovascular disease in economically diverse settings, especially in low-income and lower-middle–income countries.

Authors: Wei Li, Ph.D., of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, and Scott A. Lear, Ph.D., of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, are the corresponding authors.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Cardiology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, China

Funder: See paper for funding

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