Disability is defined as limitations in being able to complete the basic activities of everyday life, such as eating, dressing or bathing oneself, getting in and out of bed and walking across a room. Disability increases the risk of hospitalization and institutionalization and is a leading source of health care costs in the United States, accounting for $1 in $4 spent. Dorothy Dunlop, from Northwestern University (Illinois, USA), and colleagues analyzed data collected from 2,286 adults, ages 60 years and older, enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. It compared people in similar health with the same amount of moderate vigorous activity, with the participants wearing accelerometers from 2002 to 2005 to measure their sedentary time and moderate vigorous physical activity. The data revealed that being sedentary was almost as strong a risk factor for disability as lack of moderate vigorous activity – that is, that sedentary behavior is correlated to increased disability regardless of the amount of moderate exercise.” Submitting that: “data show a strong relationship between greater time spent in sedentary behavior and the presence of [activities of daily living] disability, independent of time spent in moderate or vigorous activity,” the study authors urge for “programs encouraging older adults to decrease sedentary behavior regardless of their engagement in moderate or vigorous activity.”
