Sedentary Time Tied to Risk of Heart Failure in Men
Men who spend long periods of time sitting may have an increased risk of heart failure—even if they exercise regularly, according to a new study in Circulation: heart failure. On the contrary, researchers found that being very physically active and less sedentary can help to prevent heart failure.
“The take-home message is twofold: sit less and move more, and get 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day,” says lead researcher Deborah Rohm Young, PhD, a senior scientist at Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, Calif. “Primary care providers should talk to their patients about their physical activity. They should be encouraging their patients to meet the National Physical Activity Guideline, which is 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity.”
Studying more than 82,000 men from the California Men’s Health Group, Young and her colleagues examined the link between the risk of heart failure and sedentary time. The racially diverse group of men, ages 45 to 69, did not have prevalent heart failure and were followed up for 10 years.
Investigators obtained the participants’ physical activity levels and sedentary time from questionnaires and gathered clinical information from their electronic medical records. After an average of nearly 8 years of follow-up, 3,473 men had been diagnosed with heart failure.
The researchers found:
- Men with low levels of physical activity were 52% more likely to develop heart failure than those with high levels of physical activity, even after adjusting for differences in sedentary time.
- Outside of work, men who spent 5 or more hours a day sitting were 34% more likely to develop heart failure than those who spent no more than 2 hours a day sitting, regardless of how much they exercised.
- Heart failure risk more than doubled in men who sat for at least 5 hours a day and got little exercise, compared to those who were very physically active and sat for 2 hours or less a day.
“We are still learning about the detrimental effects of high daily sedentary time. At this point, there is no consensus on how much sedentary time is too much; plus, our study only asked about sitting time outside of work,” Young says. “But given the number of health benefits from being physically active, people should find ways to put physical activity into their lives and spend less time sitting. Our findings clearly show the importance of sitting less and moving more.”
While the researchers were not able to identify the types of exercise that the men in the study performed, Young says brisk walking is a great form of physical activity to recommend for patients because it can be done almost anywhere, does not require equipment, and most people of all ages can do it. She defines brisk walking as a 3 to 4 mph pace—or a 15- to 20-minute mile.
At Kaiser Permanente, they initiated an exercise vital sign, in which all members are asked about their physical activity at every outpatient visit. They then record that information in the patient’s electronic health record, which is available to other health care providers when they see the patient. “It provides an opportunity for the provider to counsel on the patient’s physical activity level,” Young says.
While this study only included men, she expects that results would be similar in women. In the future, Young says she and her colleagues may be interested in determining if regular physical activity can reduce symptoms in people who already have heart failure; however, they do not have any specific plans at this time.
—Colleen Mullarkey
Reference
Young DR, Reynolds K, Sidell M, Brar S, Ghai NR, Sternfeld B, et al. Effects of physical activity and sedentary time on the risk of heart failure. Circ Heart Fail. 2014 Jan 1;7(1):21-7.