One in 10 deaths blamed on sitting down too much
Irish researchers have found that one in 10 deaths in the UK is associated with spending too much time sitting down.
The study from Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University found that spending large amounts of time sitting or lounging around during the day is linked to around 50,000 deaths per year in the UK.
The research, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found a large proportion of the UK population have sedentary jobs and leisure activities.
The researchers said official physical activity recommendations regarding sedentary behaviour are vague. Previous studies have shown that spending large parts of the day sitting down increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and death, and is a burden on health services.
But this study estimated for the first time the financial cost to a health system, finding that the NHS spends in excess of £700m (€804m) per year treating the health consequences of sedentary behaviour.
The researchers say their results suggest that 11.6% of all deaths were associated with sedentary behaviour.
They said 48,024 deaths might have been avoided in 2016 if sedentary behaviour was eliminated in the UK.
Lead investigator Leonie Heron from the Centre of Public Health at Queen’s University Belfast, said many individuals in the UK spend their leisure time in sedentary behaviour.
“The workplace represents a significant proportion of unavoidable daily sitting time for many people,” she said.
The researchers pointed out that it was an observational study relied on estimates of people’s self-reported activity levels.
They added that the research was also limited by the evidence available for the link between sedentary behaviour and health outcomes.
The authors point out that these costs are probably a conservative estimate of the true burden of sedentary behaviour because sedentary behaviour is likely to be associated with several other cancers, musculoskeletal disorders, and mental health disorders, not included in their analysis.
The research also found that official physical activity recommendations regarding sedentary behaviour are vague.
The authors concluded that measures should be taken to reduce sedentary behaviour with the aim of improving population health and reducing the financial burden to the health service,
