Sedentary behaviour patterns and carotid intima-media thickness in Spanish healthy adult population

•Total sedentary time was weakly positively associated with higher carotid IMT.•Sedentary time in bouts ≥ 10 min was positively associated with higher carotid IMT.•The sedentary time in bout ≥ 10 min was weakly associated with carotid IMT injury.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to analyze the association between sedentary behaviour, as assessed by an accelerometer, and mean carotid intima-media thickness (IMT).MethodsThe study included 263 healthy subjects belonging to the EVIDENT study (59.3% women). Carotid IMT was measured by carotid ultrasonography. Sedentary behaviour was measured objectively over 7 days using ActiGraph accelerometers. Thresholds of 10 consecutive minutes were used to establish sedentary bouts, and assess the number (n/day), and length ≥10 min (min/day).ResultsTotal sedentary time and sedentary time in bouts ≥10 min was higher in participants with a larger mean carotid IMT (>P75). Otherwise, this sedentary time in bouts ≥10 min parameter was weakly associated with augmented carotid IMT injury in the logistic regression model.ConclusionTotal sedentary time and sedentary time in bouts ≥10 min, as assessed by accelerometer, was positively but weakly associated with carotid IMT. Equally, this sedentary time in bouts ≥10 min was associated with carotid injury, but disappears after adjusting for potential confounders. These findings support that reducing sedentary time and increasing breaks in bouts of sedentary time might represent a useful additional strategy in the cardiovascular disease prevention.Trial RegistrationClinical Trials.gov Identifier: NCT01083082.