Skip to navigation Skip to main content Skip to footer

Approved research

Sedentary behaviour and the risk of colorectal, breast, or prostate cancer

Principal Investigator: Dr Meredith Peddie
Approved Research ID: 32179
Approval date: February 22nd 2018

Lay summary

This project has three aims. (1) To investigate the associations between subjective measures of sedentary behaviour (for example self reported TV viewing time) and body composition, dietary intake, physical activity, and biomarkers of disease risk. (2) To investigate the associations between objectively measured sedentary behaviour (accelerometer derived sedentary time, and breaks in sedentary time) and body composition, dietary intake, physical activity, and biomarkers of disease risk in the sub-sample (n~100,000) who an accelerometer. (3) To examine the associations between sedentary behaviour (both self-reported and objectively measured) with the risk of common cancers, controlling for physical activity, diet, and body composition Sedentary behaviour ? seated or reclining activities involving low energy expenditure ? predominate the waking hours of many adults. This sedentary time is associated with increased incidence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers. However, sedentary behaviour is often correlated with poor diet quality, physical inactivity, obesity, and a range of biomarkers for disease, limiting our understanding as to the extent sedentary behaviour is independently associated with disease risk. The proposed study will help to inhance understanding of the relationship between sedentary behaviour and cancer by allowing adjustment for the potential confounding influences of physical activity, body composition, and diet. This study will be conducted in three phases: Phase 1 will be a cross sectional study of the relationships between sedentary behaviour ? measured by self-report using the touchscreen questionnaire ? and body composition, diet, physical activity, and biomarkers of disease. Phase 2 will be a cross sectional study of the relationships between sedentary behaviour ? measured objectively using accelerometers ? and body composition, diet, physical activity, and biomarkers of disease. Phase 3 will be a prospective cohort study investigating the risk of common cancers in relation to both subjective and objectively measured sedentary behaviour, with adjustment for physical activity, body composition, and diet. Phase one: entire cohort Phase two: subset who wore physical activity monitors Phase three: entire cohort and subset who wore physical activity monitors