The prospective relationship between sedentary time and cardiometabolic health in adults at increased cardiometabolic risk – the Hoorn Prevention Study

BACKGROUND Sedentary time has been identified as an important and independent risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in adults. However, to date most studies have focused on TV time, few also included other sedentary behaviours such as computer use and reading, and most studies had a cross-sectional design. We aimed to examine the prospective relationship between time spent on sedentary behaviours in different domains with individual and clustered cardiometabolic risk in adults. METHODS Longitudinal data of 622 adults aged 30-50 years (42% males) at increased cardiometabolic risk were used. Leisure time TV viewing, computer use, reading and other sedentary activities (e.g. passive transport) were assessed using a subscale of the Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents and Adults (AQuAA), and summed into overall sedentary behaviour (min/day). Weight and blood pressure were measured, waist-to-hip ratio and BMI calculated, and fasting plasma levels of glucose, HbA1c, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides determined. T2DM risk score was estimated according to the ARIC formula and CVD mortality risk according to the SCORE formula. RESULTS Generalized Estimating Equation analysis demonstrated that over a two-year period higher levels of overall sedentary time and TV time were weakly but negatively associated with one out of 13 studied cardiometabolic risk factors (i.e. HDL cholesterol). CONCLUSION Overall sedentary time, as well as sedentary time in different domains, was virtually not related with cardiometabolic risk factors.