Sitting/lying time is associated with the waist-to-hip increase but not with body weight increase or blood cardiovascular risk factors changes in adult women living in social vulnerability: A 2-year longitudinal study.

The prevalence of overweight people above 18 years of age is more than 1.9 billion, as per the World Health Organization (WHO) 2014. The author Vieira and colleagues conducted research titled “Sitting/lying time is associated with the waist-to-hip increase but not with body weight increase or blood cardiovascular risk factors changes in adult women living in social vulnerability: A 2-year longitudinal study” published in The American Journal of Human Biology. The summary of findings is below:

Objectives:

To study whether physical activity and energy intake affect the anthropometric and blood cardiovascular risk factors alterations in women living in social vulnerability for two years.

Method:

The study population includes women residing in the outskirts of Maceió-AL (19 – 45 years). The socioeconomic and biochemical profiles including glucose, insulin, and blood lipids were identified at the beginning and the end of the study. Anthropometric measurements were recorded at three intervals: at the beginning, and after 1 and 2 years of follow-up. Energy expenditure was examined by doubly labelled water, physical activity was measured by 7-day triaxial accelerometry, and energy intake was assessed by 3-day 24-hour food recall, at baseline.

Findings:

The study reports that sitting, lying, and sleeping time was directly related to increased abdominal fat, but no increase in body weight, and blood cardiovascular risk factors in low-income women. Authors suggest, increased sitting time as behaviour that might affect the risk of developing chronic diseases, regardless of physical activity or physical exercise. Assessment of physical activity is an essential component of the total energy expenditure and is directly related to anthropometric variables.
Regardless of physical exercise, decreasing sedentary time would be beneficial in this population.

Limitation:

There was a small sample size at the end of the study, as the targeted population frequently migrate to other places for better living conditions. Authors acknowledge that the follow-up period might be short to study the development of any blood cardiovascular risk factors. Participants sleeping time is also included in the estimation of sedentary behaviour. Lastly, the physical activity pattern was measured only at the beginning of the study.

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