Revista de Medicina Desportiva (English) November 2018 | Page 32
organized physical exercise and of
the out-of-exercise activities were
independently associated with lower
all-cause mortality”. More, mortality
was 20 to 30% lower for both sexes
on those that referred 1-2 h/day of
physical exercise, while for other
physical activities there was 30%
reduction of mortality for men and
50-60% reduction for women.
Authors made an estimate of
the benefits regarding mortality
associated to the replacement of
sitting time for an equal period of
physical activity / exercise. “For the
less active (< 2 h/day), to replace
one hour of sitting time for one
hour of activity was associated to
the decrease of mortality, even for
domestic activities, like gardening
or simply to walk, at low or moder-
ate intensity. This association was
stronger when the physical activi-
ties were of high intensity. Now for
the less active participants, the
replacement of the sitting time for
intentional, programmed exercise
was also associated to a lower mor-
tality, while that didn’t happen for
domestic activities, what means that
on this less active group it is neces-
sary to practice intentional physical
exercise.
Discussion
The authors refer that “in this
prospective study with old people
without relevant diseases, the longer
sitting time (>12 vs. < 5 h/day) was
associated to a 20-40% gradual
increase of the risk of all-cause
death and to a risk 40-55% bigger
of cardiovascular death”. A similar
study, published in 2010, achieved
the same results. 2 With question-
naires, 53440 men and 69776
women, age 50 to 74 years old on
the beginning of the study, healthy
by the time of the questionnaire,
participated in a study about sitting
time and physical activity. During
the period of follow-up of 14 years,
there were 11307 deaths in men and
7923 in women. The authors verify,
after the correction for tobacco,
body mass index and other factors,
that the sitting time (6 or more vs <
3 hours / day) was associated to the
mortality in women (relative risk =
1,34) and in men /RR = 1,17). 2
Conclusion
The authors refer that the reduction
of the sitting time and the participa-
tion on physical activities is impor-
tant, particularly in the elderly. The
importance of this study is enor-
mous, because it stretches the need
for movement, action, in the elderly
to the detriment to the long stays in
bed or on the sofa. It demonstrates
for the elderly that simply walking
throughout the day or the perfor-
mance of domestic tasks that obliges
to some effort are fundamental to
increase longevity. It is proved that
home is also a gym where benefits
for health can be collected.
Bibliography
1. Fisher, V. A.: Exploring the Links Between
Leisure-time Physical Activity, Seden-
tary Behavior, and Cancer. http://dceg.
cancer.gov/news-events/linkage-newslet-
ter/2015-03/research-publications/physi-
cal-activity-cancer.
2. Patel A. V., et al: Leisure time spent sitting
in relation to total mortality in a prospec-
tive cohort of US adults. Am J Epidemiol.
2010 Aug 15;172(4):419-29. doi: 10.1093/aje/
kwq155. Epub 2010 Jul 22.
Leisure-time spent sitting and
site-specific cancer incidence in
a large US cohort
Alpa V. Patel et al. Cancer Epide-
miology Biomarkers & Prevention.
Published OnlineFirst June 30,
2015; doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-
15-0237.
Among the 69260 men and 77462
women, without cancer, that par-
ticipated on the American Cancer
Society Cancer Prevention Study
II Nutrition Cohort there were
18555 men and 12236 women
diagnosed with cancer during
the period from 1992 to 2009. The
longer time of sitting time (more
than 6 hours in relation to less
than 3 hours), and after adjust-
ment for physical exercise, body
mass index and other factors, was
associated in women to a higher
risk of cancer, but that was not
the case in men. In women, the
sitting time was associated to
multiple myeloma (relative risk =
1,65), invasive breast cancer (RR
= 1,10) and ovarian cancer (RR =
1,43). Besides these conclusions, it
is added that more investigation
is needed to better understand
the differences between men and
women. For women the results
support the recommendations of
the American Cancer Society that
indicate the need to diminish the
sitting time whenever possible.
http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.
com/news-and-analysis/features/
tracking-down-the-optimum-dose-of-
-exercise/20068939.article
Relationship between total sitting time and global mortality in
women 2
30 november 2018 www.revdesportiva.pt