Sedentary Behavior and Cardiac Events and Mortality After Hospitalization for Acute Coronary Syndrome Symptoms: A Prospective Study

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.124.011644?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--DcXEYX0MyqNbf3uc2pMW7dKW6KtDG_5EdPf1pPgxOV-wiO-H37E5yiF3XhT8k7h88Gry5oDIJPhiKL8v9nH95eceCLA&_hsmi=362077227&utm_content=362077227&utm_source=hs_email Even more evidence against sedentary behavior (I typed this sitting down) After someone is hospitalized for a heart attack or chest pain, they’re at high risk for another cardiac event, even if they’re receiving high quality medical treatment. A new study identifies sedentary behavior — generally bad for heart health — as a key, independent risk factor after hospitalization. In the study, published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, the least active people, who had a daily average of more than 15 sedentary hours, were two and a half times as likely to experience another cardiac event or die within a year of hospitalization than the most active group, who were sedentary for less than 12 hours a day. Between 2016 and 2020, researchers recruited more than 600 patients who had a heart attack or chest pain from the emergency department at the Columbia University Medical Center. For 30 days after they went home, the patients wore wrist devices that tracked their movement. Researchers followed up on each patient one year later, either by contacting them or through electronic records. According to the data, replacing 30 minutes of sedentary time with 30 minutes per day of either light activity, moderate to vigorous activity, or simply with sleep, reduced the risk of another cardiac event or death by 50%, 61%, and 15% respectively. For what it’s worth: The data is based on patients from a single medical center. Also, the wrist devices couldn’t differentiate between sitting and standing, only the intensity of any activity.