Mortality and Disease Risk Among Sedentary Older Women

In last month’s issue of IDEA Fitness Journal, we reported that a significant number of older women spend much of the day in sedentary behavior. A new study looks at the relationship between sedentary living and mortality risk in a similar population.

Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2014; 46 [2], 122–35), the study included 92,234 women aged 50–79 at baseline (1993–1998).
The objective was to determine how sedentary time related to mortality in a prospective, multiethnic cohort of postmenopausal women. The study looked at mortality from all causes, from cardiovascular disease, from coronary heart disease and from cancer.

In 12 years of follow-up, data showed that subjects who reported the greatest amounts of sedentary time had a higher risk of disease and all-cause mortality. The researchers also learned that the women at greatest risk tended to be white, to have a college degree and to have a higher body mass index.