THURSDAY, Dec. 3, 2020 (HealthDay News) — In postmenopausal women, sedentary behavior is associated with an increased risk for incident heart failure hospitalization, according to a study published online Nov. 24 in Circulation: Heart Failure.

Michael J. LaMonte, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the University at Buffalo in New York, and colleagues studied 80,982 women in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study, aged 50 to 79 years, who were without known heart failure. Participants were followed for a mean of nine years for physician-adjusted incident heart failure hospitalization (1,402 cases). Questionnaires were used to assess total sedentary behavior, defined as awake time spent sitting or lying down (≤6.5, 6.6 to 9.5, >9.5 hours/day), and sitting time (≤4.5, 4.6 to 8.5, >8.5 hours/day).

The researchers found that higher heart failure risk was observed across incremental tertiles of time-varying total sedentary behavior (hazard ratios, 1.00 [referent], 1.15, and 1.42) and sitting time (1.00 [referent], 1.14, and 1.54), after controlling for age, race/ethnicity, education, income, smoking, alcohol, menopausal hormone therapy, and hysterectomy status. The associations remained significant after further adjustment for comorbidities, including time-varying myocardial infarction and coronary revascularization (hazard ratios: sedentary behavior: 1.00 [referent], 1.11, and 1.27; sitting: 1.00 [referent], 1.09, and 1.37) and for baseline physical activity (hazard ratios: sedentary behavior: 1.00 [referent], 1.10, and 1.24; sitting: 1.00 [referent], 1.08, and 1.33).

“Our message is simple: sit less and move more,” LaMonte said in a statement. “Our study clearly shows that we also need to increase efforts to reduce daily sedentary time and encourage adults to frequently interrupt their sedentary time.”

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