Extra couch time raises type-2 diabetes risk 22 pct per hour

Each extra hour of daily sedentary time (for example spent sitting at a computer) is associated with a 22 percent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, concludes new research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes). The authors included 2,497 participants (mean age 60 years, 52 percent […]

Each extra hour of daily sedentary time (for example spent sitting at a computer) is associated with a 22 percent increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, concludes new research published in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes).
The authors included 2,497 participants (mean age 60 years, 52 percent men) from this study who were asked to wear their accelerometer 24 hours per day for 8 consecutive days.
The authors calculated the daily amount of sedentary time, daily number of sedentary breaks, number of prolonged sedentary periods (of 30 minutes or more), and the average duration of these sedentary periods.
To determine diabetes status, participants underwent an oral glucose tolerance test.
Overall, 1,395 (56 percent) participants had a normal glucose metabolism, 388 (15 percent) had an impaired glucose metabolism and 714 (29 percent) had type 2 diabetes.
Participants with type-2 diabetes spent the most time sedentary, up to 26 more minutes per day in comparison with participants with an impaired or normal glucose metabolism.
The authors say their study is the largest in which this type of posture-identifying accelerometry has been used to objectively measure total duration and patterns of sedentary behaviour in a cohort of people with type-2 diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, and normal glucose metabolism.
They conclude that: “Future studies in participants with type-2 diabetes should be conducted to confirm our results … nevertheless, our findings could have important implications for public health as they suggest that sedentary behaviour may play a significant role in the development and prevention of type 2 diabetes, independent of high-intensity physical activity. Consideration should be given to including strategies to reduce the amount of sedentary time in diabetes prevention programmes.”