Approved Research

Dose-response associations of objectively measured physical activity and sedentary behavior with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in patients with chronic diseases

Lay summary

Higher physical activity and lower sedentary behavior levels are advantageous for health promotion and mortality prevention, especially for populations experiencing chronic diseases (cancer, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, dementia, etc.). However, previous studies are limited to subjective assessment, inaccurate estimation, short follow-up duration, and small sample sizes. Besides, existing dose-response analyses are mainly focused on populations free of chronic diseases, which might not be suitable for populations with chronic diseases because of the discrepancy in physical tolerance or functional limitations compared with relatively healthy people. Hence, we aim to (1) examine the dose-response associations of physical activity and sedentary behavior with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in populations with major chronic diseases (cancer, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, dementia, etc.) using objectively measured accelerometer data, and (2) determine the prospective relationship between socio-demographic, health-related characteristics, and physical activity and sedentary behavior among adults with chronic diseases using the UK Biobank database. The estimated duration of our project is 36 months. Our findings might be conducive to accurate exercise prescription formulation, premature mortality reduction, and quality-of-life improvement for populations with major chronic diseases.