JAMA Original Investigation Article
Journal of the American Medical Association, September 12, 2023
Retrospective Study from the UK Biobank, including 49,841 adults > 60 years without an initial diagnosis of dementia.
What’s Interesting about this article?
- Individuals in the study wore a wrist accelerometer to measure sedentary (sitting) time each day.
- These older adults resided in England, Scotland or Wales and were followed for 6.72 years. During this time 414 individuals were diagnosed with dementia.
- More time spent in sedentary behavior was significantly associated with a higher incidence of dementia.
JournalDoc Comments:
- This is an extraordinarily large study group from one of the most respected data registries in the world.
- The retrospective study design does not allow a determination of whether this relationship is causal – i.e., that increased sitting time results in increased risk of dementia. However, it may be “associated with” the diagnosis of dementia.
- This study may add further weight to the adage that “sitting is the new smoking” in preventive medicine.
Disclaimer: Article of the Week selections by JournalDoc physicians are independent, unbiased and have no commercial conflict of interest. JournalDoc does not support or endorse the findings or opinions expressed in the article. Findings in the article may need to be supported by further research and/or the consensus of experts.
