Total Sitting Time and Sitting Pattern in Postmenopausal Women Differ by Hispanic Ethnicity and are Associated With Cardiometabolic Risk Biomarkers

Abstract

Background Sedentary behavior is pervasive, especially in older adults, and is associated with cardiometabolic disease and mortality. Relationships between cardiometabolic biomarkers and sitting time are unexplored in older women, as are possible ethnic differences. Methods and Results Ethnic differences in sitting behavior and associations with cardiometabolic risk were explored in overweight/obese postmenopausal women (n=518; mean± SD age 63±6 years; mean body mass index 31.4±4.8 kg/m 2 ). Accelerometer data were processed using validated machine‐learned algorithms to measure total daily sitting time and mean sitting bout duration (an indicator of sitting behavior pattern). Multivariable linear regression was used to compare sitting among Hispanic women (n=102) and non‐Hispanic women (n=416) and tested associations with cardiometabolic risk biomarkers. Hispanic women sat, on average, 50.3 minutes less/day than non‐Hispanic women ( P <0.001) and had shorter (3.6 minutes less, P =0.02) mean sitting bout duration. Among all women, longer total sitting time was deleteriously associated with fasting insulin and triglyceride concentrations, insulin resistance, body mass index and waist circumference; longer mean sitting bout duration was deleteriously associated with fasting glucose and insulin concentrations, insulin resistance, body mass index and waist circumference. Exploratory interaction analysis showed that the association between mean sitting bout duration and fasting glucose concentration was significantly stronger among Hispanic women than non‐Hispanic women ( P ‐interaction=0.03). Conclusions Ethnic differences in 2 objectively measured parameters of sitting behavior, as well as detrimental associations between parameters and cardiometabolic biomarkers were observed in overweight/obese older women. The detrimental association between mean sitting bout duration and fasting glucose may be greater in Hispanic women than in non‐Hispanic women. Corroboration in larger studies is warranted.

Interrupting Sitting Time in Postmenopausal Women: Protocol for the Rise for Health Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Many older adults find it challenging to engage in health-enhancing physical activity (PA) and can spend up to 11 hours a day sitting [ 1 ]. Greater amounts of sedentary time, including time spent sitting and lack of PA, are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes; all-cause mortality; cardiovascular disease; higher insulin; hypertension; and, specifically in older adults, poorer physical functioning [ 2 - 11 ]. Older women, in particular, are at an increased risk of chronic diseases and disabilities [ 3 ].…”

Diurnal patterns of sedentary behavior and changes in physical function over time among older women: a prospective cohort study

“…Many investigators have developed new analytic approaches for accelerometer data in an effort to not just measure total accumulation of PA/SB time but to detect patterns in the data. Several studies have investigated patterns based on lengths of uninterrupted intervals ("bouts") and/or degree of fragmentation of PA/SB [15,22,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57]. More relevant to the current investigation, studies have also described variations in the timing of sedentary time and PA time accumulation with respect to hour of the day and/or day of the week, including differences in timing by sociodemographic factors [23,28,[58][59][60][61][62].…”

“…Early studies used selfreported measurements of SB, which can be unreliable or inaccurate, especially in older age groups [17][18][19]. Accelerometer data are subject to less measurement error, and analyses of these data have revealed stronger associations between SB and health than were previously observed using self-reports [20][21][22].…”

Endothelial-derived cardiovascular disease-related microRNAs elevated with prolonged sitting pattern among postmenopausal women

“…Activity measurement and sitting pattern classification. Activity measurement and sitting pattern characterization were described previously 7 . Briefly, all participants from the three studies wore an accelerometer (ActiGraph GT3X +) on their right hip for at least 4 days and up to 14 days, depending on the parent clinical study.…”

“…Sitting is a non-movement posture form of sedentary behavior 4 . Using device-based measures of sitting behavior, we recently showed that longer total sitting time and mean sitting bout duration (i.e., sitting pattern) were associated with cardiometabolic and cancer risk biomarkers among 518 overweight and obese postmenopausal women 7 . In this population, the women had a mean (SD) daily sitting time of 9.1 (1.6) hours and a mean (SD) sitting bout duration of 39.2 (15.5) minutes.…”