Towards a demographic risk profile for sedentary behaviours in middle-aged British adults: a cross-sectional population study

Objectives

In response to a call from the American Heart Association to more clearly identify the demographic factors associated with sedentary behaviours, this study aimed to identify the hierarchy of demographic characteristics associated with the sedentary behaviours of television viewing, recreational computer use and driving.

Design

Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data collected as part of the UK Biobank. The UK Biobank is a population cohort recruited from 22 centres across the UK. Participants aged between 37 and 73 years were recruited between 2006 and 2010.

Methods

Decision tree models were generated for the sedentary behaviour outcomes of hours/day spent television viewing, recreational computer use and all driving; a sum of time spent in these sedentary behaviours ('overall') was computed. Age, sex, race, college attendance, employment, shift-work, urban versus rural residence as well as physical activity were considered as predictors.

Results

The analytic sample comprised 415 666 adults who were mostly female (54.2%), white (95.2%), non-college attendee (64.5%), employed (61.7%), lived in an urban centre (85.5%), with a mean age of 56.6 (SD=8.1) years. Television viewing was most common sedentary behaviour (2.7 hour/day vs 1.1 for recreational computer use and 1.0 for all driving). Males (tier 1), who did not attend college (tier 2) were the highest risk group for overall sedentary time. Adults with no college attendance (tier 1) and were retired (tier 2) were the most high-risk demographic group for television viewing. College attendees (tier 1) were highest risk for recreational computer use. Adults who were employed (tier 1), male (tier 2) and did not attend college (tier 3) were most at risk for driving

Conclusions

Daily time spent in different sedentary behaviours varies by sex, employment status and college attendance status. The development of targeted interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour in different demographic subgroups is needed.

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