Breaks in Sedentary Time: Beneficial associations with metabolic risk

Clinical Care/Education/Nutrition/Psychosocial Research

Breaks in Sedentary Time

¹Cancer Prevention Research Centre, School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
²International Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, Australia
³School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia
⁴University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Genevieve Healy, Cancer Prevention Research Centre, School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia 4006. E-mail: g.healy{at}uq.edu.au

Diabetes Care 2008 Apr; 31(4): 661-666. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc07-2046

Download figure
Open in new tab
Download powerpoint
Figure 1—
Quartiles of breaks in sedentary time with metabolic risk variables: waist circumference (A), BMI (B), triglycerides (C), and 2-h plasma glucose (D). Estimated marginal means (SE) adjusted for age, sex, employment, alcohol intake, income, education, smoking, family history of diabetes, diet quality, moderate- to vigorous-intensity time, mean intensity of breaks, and total sedentary time. Triglycerides (log) are additionally adjusted for lipid-lowering medication. Cut points for quartiles were 506, 612, and 673 breaks; *P < 0.05 compared to quartile 1.

Table 1—

Sociodemographic, metabolic, and sedentary time-use characteristics of participants

Characteristic
Age (years)	53.4 ± 11.8
Family history of diabetes	22.6
Current smokers	1.8
University/further education	54.2
Moderate/heavy alcohol drinkers	31.6
Full-time employment	54.2
Household income ≥$1,500 /week	38.1
Diet quality (scale 1–100)	68.8 ± 12.2
Metabolic variables
Waist circumference (cm)	91.3 ± 12.6
BMI (kg/m²)	27.2 ± 4.7
Log triglycerides (mmol/l)*	0.05 ± 0.21
HDL cholesterol (mmol/l)*	1.49 ± 0.40
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)†	120 ± 17
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)†	68.2 ± 9.7
Fasting plasma glucose (mmol/l)	5.21 ± 0.49
2-h plasma glucose (mmol/l)	5.72 ± 1.67
Accelerometer-derived variables
Total sedentary time (h)	56.7 ± 12.1
Moderate- to vigorous-intensity time (h/day)	0.61 ± 0.38
Total breaks (n)	601 ± 115
Intensity of break (accelerometer counts/min)	514 ± 94
Duration of break (min)	4.50 ± 1.05

Data are means ± SD or %.
*
↵* Means adjusted for lipid-lowering medication (n = 23);
†
↵† means adjusted for hypertensive medication (n = 29). Sedentary time (<100 accelerometer counts/min); moderate- to vigorous-intensity time (≥1,952 accelerometer counts/min and diary information).

Table 2—

Standardized regression coefficients of total breaks with metabolic risk variables

Metabolic risk variable	β (95% CI)	P	Adjusted R²
Waist circumference (cm)	−0.16 (−0.31 to −0.02)	0.027	0.26
BMI (kg/m²)	−0.19 (−0.35 to −0.02)	0.026	0.05
Triglycerides (log) (mmol/l)*	−0.18 (−0.34 to −0.02)	0.029	0.13
HDL cholesterol (mmol/l)*	0.03 (−0.12 to 0.18)	0.685	0.25
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)†	−0.03 (−0.18 to 0.12)	0.697	0.21
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)†	0.03 (−0.12 to 0.19)	0.670	0.19
Fasting plasma glucose (mmol/l)	−0.09 (−0.25 to 0.07)	0.287	0.09
2-h plasma glucose (mmol/l)	−0.18 (−0.34 to −0.02)	0.025	0.14

Adjusted for age, sex, employment, alcohol intake, income, education, smoking, family history of diabetes, diet quality, moderate- to vigorous-intensity time, mean intensity of breaks, and total sedentary time.
*
↵* Additional adjustment for lipid-lowering medication;
†
↵† additional adjustment for hypertensive medication. Adjusted R² gives an estimate of explained variance, taking into account the sample size.