Increased Sedentary Behavior Associated with Poorer Quality of Life in Older Adults

by | Aug 24, 2023 | 2023, Aging, Fitness and Exercise

Written by Taylor Woosley, Staff Writer. Cross-sectional findings show that higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity and lower sedentary time was associated with increased quality of life. 

man with weightsPhysical activity, bodily movement produced by the contraction of skeletal muscle that requires energy, has been linked to various health benefits with increasing age1. Regular physical activity promotes improvements in both physical and psychological health and contributes to the maintenance of functional autonomy in older adults2. Skeletal muscle strength and muscle power decline with chronological age and are key determinants of adverse outcomes such as morbidity, disability, poor quality of life, and mortality3.

Older adults (age ≥60 years) are one of the most sedentary groups in society4. They typically engage in an average of 9.4 hours of sedentary behavior daily5. Sedentary behavior has a detrimental effect on the quality of life (QoL) and is associated with the reduction of bone mass, sarcopenia, and muscle weakness, which may increase the risk of falls in older adults6.

Yerrakalva et al. conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the prospective associations between accelerometer-assessed activities, moderate-to-vigorous intensity PA (MVPA), and quality of life (QoL) using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer-Norfolk (EPIC-Norfolk). The EPIC-Norfolk study consisted of over 25,500 UK adults who partook in up to five health-checks with available information on anthropometry, serum lipids, blood pressure, QoL, and physical behavior. Physical behavior was measured using accelerometers at baseline and follow-up and participants were instructed to wear them for seven days. Subjects completed the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire to assess QoL.

Covariates included baseline sociodemographic factors, body mass index, occupation, chronic disease status, and marital status. Multivariable linear regressions analyses were conducted to analyze the association between baseline physical behaviors and follow-up QoL, along with the change between baseline and follow-up behaviors and follow-up QoL. A total of 1433 subjects aged ≥60 years were included in the analysis. Mean age was 70 years at baseline and 54.7% were women. The mean time between baseline and follow-up was 5.8 (1.8) years.

MVPA decreased on average by 4.0 min/day/year (SD 8.3) for men and 4.0 min/day/year for women (SD 12.0) between baseline and follow-up. Total sedentary time increased by an average 5.5 min/day/year (SD 16.0) for men and 6.4 min/day/year (SD 15.0) for women between baseline and follow-up. Every hour/day/year increase in MVPA was associated with 0.3 higher EQ-5D units (95% CI 0.2, 0.5). Higher total sedentary time was associated with lower QoL (1 h/day higher sedentary time was associated with 0.01 unit higher EQ5D score, 95% CI -0.02, -0.004).

Results of the cross-sectional study show that subjects with a higher baseline MVPA and lower total sedentary time were associated with higher subsequent QoL. Further research should continue to explore the benefits of increasing physical activity levels in older adults. Study limitations include the potential lack of generalizability of results because the EPIC-Norfolk subjects were found to be slightly healthier than the general population and the inability of the accelerometer to specify type of activity.

Source: Yerrakalva, Dharani, Samantha Hajna, Marc Suhrcke, Katrien Wijndaele, Kate Westgate, Kay-Tee Khaw, Nick Wareham, Soren Brage, and Simon Griffin. “Associations between change in physical activity and sedentary time and health-related quality of life in older english adults: the EPIC-Norfolk cohort study.” Health and Quality of Life Outcomes 21, no. 1 (2023): 1-9.

© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line
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Posted August 24, 2023.

Taylor Woosley studied biology at Purdue University before becoming a 2016 graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a major in Writing. She currently resides in Glen Ellyn, IL.

References:

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