Brief reportLeisure-Time Screen-Based Sedentary Behavior and Leukocyte Telomere Length: Implications for a New Leisure-Time Screen-Based Sedentary Behavior Mechanism
Section snippets
Study Design and Participants
Data were extracted from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (only cycles with LTL data). Procedures were approved by the National Center for Health Statistics Review Board. Consent was obtained from all participants. Analyses are based on data from 6405 adults (age, 20-84 years) who provided complete data for the study variables.
Leukocyte Telomere Length
Detailed methodology of the NHANES procedures for assessing LTL has been reported previously.8 Briefly, DNA was extracted from
Results
Table 1 displays the weighted unadjusted characteristics of the study sample. Participants with LTL values in the lowest (vs highest) tertile engaged in more sedentary behavior and less MVPA, were older, more likely to be non-Hispanic white, and less likely to have never smoked, had a higher BMI and higher CRP levels, and were more likely to have diabetes, hypertension, and coronary artery disease.
Across the 6 sedentary behavior levels (none [n=88], less than 1 h/d [n=705], 1 h/d [n=1062], 2
Discussion
Telomeres are protective nucleoprotein structures that promote chromosomal stability by capping the ends of the chromosomes, and shortening of the telomere causes cellular senescence.1 Telomeres are a biomarker of cellular aging and thus are associated with various age-related diseases.14 Leukocyte telomere length shortening, however, is not solely a marker of cellular aging given its health consequences across the life span. Leukocyte telomere length shortening is associated with morbidity15
Conclusion
In this national sample of US adults, leisure-time screen-based sedentary behavior was inversely associated with LTL. Specifically, after adjustments, for every 1-hour increase in leisure-time screen-based sedentary behavior, participants had a 7% increased odds of having LTL values in the lowest LTL tertile (vs highest). Future work should aim to address the limitations of this study by employing a prospective or experimental study design and utilizing an objective measure (eg, accelerometry)
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Cited by (19)
Randomized controlled trial investigating the experimental effects of reduced habitual physical activity on cardiometabolic profile
2018, Physiology and BehaviorCitation Excerpt :Regular participation in physical activity has preventive and treatment effects for a multitude of health outcomes [1,2]. Emerging work, including ours [3–6], has evaluated the independent association of sedentary behavior on various health outcomes [7–15]. Sedentary behavior is any waking behavior characterized by an energy expenditure ≤1.5 metabolic equivalents (METs), while in a sitting, reclining or lying posture [16].
The impact of overweight/obesity duration and physical activity on telomere length: An application of the WATCH paradigm
2017, Obesity Research and Clinical PracticeCitation Excerpt :This illustrates that physical activity may protect against the deleterious effects of overweight/obesity on shortening telomere length, however, it may not mitigate the effects of prolonged overweight/obesity. This study is in line with previous studies illustrating the negative effects of sedentary behaviour [2], and beneficial effects of physical activity [5] on leukocyte telomere length. While unknown, the direct association between physical activity and leukocyte telomere lengths may be related to improvements in antioxidative defense mechanisms to protect against damage to the telomere nucleotide sequences thought to occur from oxidative stress [12].
Sedentary behavior & health-related quality of life among congestive heart failure patients
2016, International Journal of CardiologyCitation Excerpt :A considerable amount of research demonstrates that participation in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is favorably associated with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) [1–10], with emerging research also demonstrating that light-intensity physical activity (LIPA) is associated with HQROL [11–15]. Recent research suggests that, independent of physical activity, sedentary behavior (SB) is associated with unfavorable cardiometabolic-related outcomes [16–25]. Little research among adults, however, has examined the independent associations of SB on HRQOL [26–34].
Healthy Lifestyle Characteristics and Their Joint Association with Cardiovascular Disease Biomarkers in US Adults
2016, Mayo Clinic ProceedingsMode-specific physical activity and leukocyte telomere length among U.S. adults: Implications of running on cellular aging
2016, Preventive MedicineCitation Excerpt :Taken together, these findings suggest that meeting MVPA guidelines via running, as opposed to meeting guidelines via any physical activity, may be important with regard to LTL levels. The present findings confirm previous research that demonstrates an association between physical activity engagement and longer LTL (Loprinzi, 2015a, 2015c; Loprinzi and Loenneke, 2015; Loprinzi et al., 2015; Ludlow et al., 2013; Ludlow and Roth, 2011). This study, however, adds to the literature by providing some suggestive evidence that running-specific physical activity may play an important role in LTL.