July 9, 2012

expert reaction to observational study looking at sedentary lifestyle and risk of death

An observational study in the BMJ Open found an association between the amount of time spent seated every day to longevity. A before the headlines analysis was also sent out to accompany comments.

Prof David Spiegelhalter, Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, said:

“This is a study of populations, and does not tell you personally what the effect of getting off the sofa might be. It seems plausible that if future generations moved around a bit more, then they might live longer on average. But very few of us currently spend less than 3 hours sitting each day, and so this seems a very optimistic target.”

‘Sedentary behaviour and life expectancy in the USA: a cause-deleted life table analysis’ by Peter T Katzmarzyk and I-Min Lee, published in BMJ Open on Monday 9th July.