Study finds 6+ hours/day of sedentary leisure time linked to doubling in uterine fibroids risk

Medical Xpress / British Medical Journal / BMJ Open ^ | Nov. 26, 2023 | Yunrui Sun et al

[ConservativeMind]

Clocking up 6 or more hours of sedentary leisure time every day may double a woman's risk of uterine fibroids before she's gone through the menopause, suggests research.

The average ages when periods first started and when giving birth for the first time were 13-16 and 20–24, respectively, and nearly 84% had more than two children.

Sedentary behavior was classified as 1.5 or fewer metabolic equivalent of task (MET) hours/day when sitting or lying down. METs express how much energy in calories is expended per hour of physical activity.

Around 6 out of 10 (61%) of the women clocked up 2–3.99 hours/day of sedentary leisure time.

In all, 562 (8.5%) of the women had uterine fibroids, the prevalence of which increased with age. Rates were highest (2.5 times higher) among those aged 50 and older.

Weight (BMI), number of live births (more than 2), menstrual status, time since last live birth (13-17 years onwards), physical activity and sedentary leisure time were all associated with uterine fibroids.

But the more sedentary leisure time spent, the greater the risk of uterine fibroids seemed to be. And after accounting for potentially influential factors, sedentary leisure time of 6 or more hours a day was associated with a risk twice that of women who clocked up fewer than 2.

While sedentary leisure time wasn't associated with the prevalence of fibroids in premenopausal women, it was associated with the prevalence of fibroids in perimenopausal women: the risk was 5 times higher among those who clocked up 6 or more sedentary leisure hours a day than it was in those who clocked up fewer than 2 hours.

This is an observational study, and as such, can't establish causal factors.

[ConservativeMind]

Uterine fibroids may have a chance to be minimized when more activity.

[ConservativeMind]

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[callofthewild]

Would just standing up help in this regard? Lots of office jobs now have those desks that can go up and down so you can stand whenever you want