Prolonged, Uninterrupted Sedentary Behavior and Glycemic Biomarkers Among US Hispanic/Latino Adults

Abstract

Background Excessive sedentary time is ubiquitous in developed nations and is associated with deleterious health outcomes. Few studies have examined whether the manner in which sedentary time is accrued (in short or long bouts) carries any clinical relevance. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of prolonged-uninterrupted sedentary behavior with glycemic biomarkers in a cohort of U.S. Hispanic/Latino adults. Methods We studied 12,083 participants from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), a population-based study of Hispanic/Latino adults 18–74 years. Homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and glycosylated hemoglobin (Hb1Ac) were measured from a fasting blood sample and 2-hour glucose was measured following an oral glucose tolerance test. Sedentary time was objectively measured using a hip-mounted accelerometer. Prolonged, uninterrupted sedentariness was expressed as mean sedentary bout length. Results Adjusted for potential confounders and moderate-vigorous physical activity, longer sedentary bout duration was dose-dependently associated with increased HOMA-IR (p-trend <0.001) and 2-hour glucose levels (p-trend=0.015). These associations were not independent of total sedentary time, however a significant interaction between sedentary bout duration and total sedentary time was observed. Evaluation of the joint association of total sedentary time and sedentary bout duration showed that participants in the upper quartile for both sedentary characteristics (i.e. high total sedentary time and high sedentary bout duration) had the highest levels of HOMA-IR (p<0.001 vs. low group for both sedentary characteristics) and 2-hour glucose (p=0.002 vs. low group for both sedentary characteristics). High total sedentary time or high sedentary bout duration alone were not associated with differences in any glycemic biomarkers Conclusions Accruing sedentary time in prolonged, uninterrupted bouts may be deleteriously associated with biomarkers of glucose regulation.

Sedentary Time Accumulated in Bouts is Positively Associated with Disease Severity in Fibromyalgia: The Al-Ándalus Project

“…In fact, participants in the present research accumulated~27% of total ST in bouts ≥ 30 min. Other previous study in adults confirmed that approximately 40% of total ST was accrued in bouts > 30 min, with 70% of participants accruing at least 1 sedentary bout per day > 60 [3]. In the current study, 94% of participants accumulated at least one sedentary bout per day ≥ 30, whereas only 22% accumulated at least one sedentary bout per day ≥ 60.…”

“…Evidence suggests that frequently interrupting prolonged bouts of ST is a way to improve cardio-metabolic outcomes [44,45], obesity [46] or glucose levels [3] in diverse populations. In older adults, uninterrupted ST lasting ≥ 30 min was associated with increased frailty independent of total ST and bouted MVPA [47].…”

“…These guidelines; however, do not offer specific recommendations about how often to take sedentary breaks. Therefore, there is no agreed upon definition of prolonged ST; however, the 30-min cut-off was chosen based on previous studies, which are shown to be associated with the development of metabolic syndrome and mortality [3,47]. Furthermore, we also included a 60-min cut-off to check whether longer sustained periods of ST are potentially more deleterious than shorter sustained periods (30-min cut-off).…”

“…The time accumulated in bouts (that is sustained unbroken periods) of ≥30 or ≥60 continuous min of ST was obtained as measures of prolonged ST. These cut-points were selected based on previous literature [3,35]. Additionally, the percentage of total ST accumulated in 30-min bouts (total time accumulated in bouts ≥ 30 / total ST) and percentage of total ST accumulated in 60-min bouts (total time accumulated in bouts ≥ 60 / total ST) were calculated.…”

“…Sedentary behaviour is defined as activities during waking hours in a sitting or reclining posture with energy expenditure ≤ 1.5 metabolic equivalents (METs) [1]. Sedentary behaviour is increasingly recognised as raising the risk of cardiovascular disease events, diabetes and mortality [2] and might be associated with disease risk regardless of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) [3,4]. In fact, 2 of 15 current physical activity (PA) recommendations promote the reduction of total sedentary time (ST) [5].…”