Light activity linked to lower death risk in high-risk adults
Each additional sedentary hour per day was associated with 10% higher relative all-cause mortality risk and 22% higher relative cardiovascular mortality risk.
Limit: The conference abstract did not report participants' number or ages
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Adults with diabetes and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, in the UK Biobank wore wrist activity monitors for seven days in a prospective observational study. Over a median 8.16 years, 243 participants died, including 103 from cardiovascular causes.
Higher light activity was associated with lower mortality from any cause and from cardiovascular disease. More sedentary time was associated with higher mortality. Statistical models linked replacing one sedentary hour per day with light activity to lower mortality for both outcomes. Replacing sedentary time with moderate-to-vigorous activity showed weaker associations with lower mortality. However, replacing moderate-to-vigorous activity with light activity was associated with a trend toward higher mortality.
Why it matters
The findings may inform physical activity advice for people aging with diabetes and atrial fibrillation, a population facing high mortality.
Caveats
The observational design could not establish that changing activity caused the mortality differences or that light activity was safer. The conference abstract did not report participants’ number or ages.
