Association Between Daily Sitting Time and Cardiometabolic Indicators in Adult Public Servants: A Cross-Sectional...

To investigate the association between daily sitting time (ST) and cardiometabolic indicators in adult Brazilian public servants, using both unadjusted and covariate-adjusted analyses.

Cross-sectional study conducted with 60 adult federal public servants (34 women, 26 men; mean age 43.40 ± 11.42 years) from Caraguatatuba, São Paulo, Brazil. ST was assessed using the short-form International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and participants were categorized as high ST (≥ 8 h/day, n = 21) or low ST (< 8 h/day, n = 39). Cardiometabolic indicators included body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), resting heart rate, peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO₂), and fasting capillary glucose. Unadjusted associations were examined using Spearman correlations with Fisher z-transform 95% confidence intervals and Mann-Whitney comparisons between groups. Adjusted analyses included multiple linear regression (MLR) and partial Spearman correlations by the residual method, controlling for sex, age, physical activity, smoking, alcohol use, medication use, pre-existing conditions, and perceived stress. Prevalence ratios (PR) were estimated using clinically validated cutoff points. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Universidade São Judas Tadeu (protocol no. 6.117.542).

The high ST group presented significantly higher values of BMI (29.26 ± 4.46 vs. 26.38 ± 4.09 kg/m²; p = 0.020), WHR (0.86 ± 0.10 vs. 0.80 ± 0.07; p = 0.011), SBP (138.33 ± 10.66 vs. 128.23 ± 9.59 mmHg; p = 0.003), DBP (89.29 ± 5.87 vs. 85.38 ± 4.07 mmHg; p = 0.016), and fasting glucose (101.14 ± 5.67 vs. 96.67 ± 3.37 mg/dL; p = 0.001), as well as lower SpO₂ (93.81 ± 3.59 vs. 96.18 ± 2.30%; p = 0.008). Spearman correlations identified significant associations between ST and WHR (ρ = 0.278; 95% CI: 0.026-0.497; p = 0.031), SBP (ρ = 0.290; 95% CI: 0.039-0.507; p = 0.024), SpO₂ (ρ = -0.363; 95% CI: -0.565 to -0.121; p = 0.004), and fasting glucose (ρ = 0.351; 95% CI: 0.107-0.556; p = 0.006). Fasting glucose was the only indicator that remained associated with ST after full covariate adjustment (partial ρ = 0.279; 95% CI: 0.025-0.499; p = 0.032), though the association was not confirmed in multiple regression (B = 1.905; 95% CI: -0.256 to 4.066; p = 0.083). Prevalence ratio analyses showed that the high ST group had significantly greater prevalence of elevated WHR by sex-specific WHO criteria (PR = 6.19; 95% CI: 1.91-20.07; p = 0.001), low SpO₂ below 95% (PR = 2.79; 95% CI: 1.36-5.73; p = 0.010), and impaired fasting glucose by ADA 2024 criteria (PR = 3.45; 95% CI: 1.63-7.30; p = 0.002).

Higher daily sitting time was associated with a less favorable cardiometabolic profile in adult public servants, with significant differences across multiple indicators in unadjusted analyses. Fasting glucose showed the most consistent signal after covariate adjustment, suggesting a possible adjusted association between sitting time and glycemic metabolism, though not confirmed in multiple regression. These findings should be interpreted as exploratory given the cross-sectional design, restricted sitting time variability, and moderate sample size. Longitudinal studies with objective sedentary behavior measures are needed to confirm the independence and magnitude of these associations.