Sitting Too Much: Consequences

Sitting Too Much May Have Serious Consequences

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: January 10, 2011 Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Couch potatoes beware -- spending too much time sitting in front of the television or computer may increase the risk of cardiovascular events, or even death, researchers found. A study of more than 4,500 Scottish people over age 35 found those who spent at least four hours of screen time each day were more than twice as likely as those with less than two hours of screen time to suffer a cardiovascular event (HR 2.30, 95% CI 1.33 to 1.96), according to Emmanuel Stamatakis, PhD, of University College London, and colleagues. People with the most screen time also had an increased risk of death during an average of four years of follow-up (HR 1.52, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.16), Stamatakis and co-authors reported in the Jan. 18 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology./.../