Study links couch potato lifestyles to 8% of deaths worldwide

Greater inactivity is independently associated with premature death and a higher risk of cancer, heart disease and other noncommunicable diseases. A new study now links a sedentary lifestyle to 8% of all deaths worldwide.

The researchers “relied on the evidence presented by the US 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee. Based on exhaustive literature searches, the committee reported that there was strong evidence that physical inactivity was associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality and incidence of coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, several cancers (bladder, breast, colon, endometrial, oesophageal, gastric, renal), dementia and depression,” they wrote.

The team of doctors from the United States and Canada analyzed 2016 data from 168 countries. According to their findings, 2% of high blood pressure cases and more than 8% of dementia cases could be attributed to physical inactivity.

For their study, physical inactivity was defined as less than 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity a week.

The observational study also analyzed physical inactivity in terms of wealth. They found people in rich countries were more than twice as likely to develop a disease related to physical inactivity than were those in poor countries.

But it’s the middle-income countries that have the highest numbers, accounting for 69% of all deaths and 74% of heart disease deaths associated with physical inactivity worldwide. The researchers attribute the higher numbers to those countries’ higher population rates.

“The global burden associated with physical inactivity is substantial,” the researchers wrote. “The relative burden is greatest in high-income countries; however, the greatest number of people (absolute burden) affected by physical inactivity are living in middle-income countries given the size of their populations.”

The study was published online Monday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.