Accelerometer-assessed sedentary behaviour among Chinese rural older adults: Patterns and associations with physical function

ABSTRACT

Sedentary behaviour is associated with a range of adverse health conditions. Population-based studies have rarely examined the distribution and associated factors of accelerometer-measured sedentary behaviour patterns in rural-dwelling older adults. This population-based study included 2096 rural-dwelling older adults (age ≥60 years; 59.0% women) derived from baseline participants of the MIND-China Study. Total sedentary time and patterns (e.g., uninterrupted bouts and breaks) were derived from the hip-worn accelerometers for 7 days. Physical function was assessed using the Short Physical Performance Battery test. Data were analysed using general linear models. Overall, participants spent 58.8% of daily waking time in sedentary behaviour, with nearly half of sedentary time being accumulated through sedentary bouts of 30+ minutes. Men spent more total and accumulated sedentary time than women in each sedentary bout duration, while women had more daily 1+ minute sedentary bouts than men (all P < 0.001). Controlling for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and other confounders, more prolonged sedentary time and fewer breaks were significantly associated with poor physical function, balance, lower limb strength, and walking speed (all P < 0.001). In older adults living in rural communities, prolonged sedentary behaviour and less frequent breaks are associated with poor physical function.

KEYWORDS:

• Sedentary pattern
• accelerometry
• rural elderly
• physical function
• population-based study

Acknowledgment

We would like to thank all the participants in the Multimodal Interventions to Delay Dementia and Disability in Rural China (MIND-China) as well as the MIND-China Research Group for their collaboration in data collection and management.

Author contributions

Study concept and design: X.H., Y.W., Y.D., and C.Q.; Acquisition of data: X.W., C.W., X.H., P.W., M.Z., Z.J., M.M., and Q.H.; Analysis and interpretation of data: X.H., X.W., Y.W., and C.Q.; Drafting of the manuscript: X.H. and X.W.; Supervision: Y.D. and C.Q.; Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: all authors. All authors read and approved the final manuscript and participated in the work to take appropriate responsibility for the content.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study received approval from the Ethics Committee of Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong University in Jinan, China. Written informed consent was obtained from the participants or informants.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2022.2122321

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants no.: 82171175, 81861138008, and 81772448), the Alzheimer’s Association Grant (grant no.: AACSFD-22-922844), the National Key R&D Program of China Ministry of Sciences and Technology (grant no.: 2017YFC1310100), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (grant no.: ZR2021MH005), the Academic Promotion Program of Shandong First Medical University (2019QL020), the Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Program in Shandong Province (YXH2019ZXY008), and the Brain Science and Brain-like Intelligence Technology Research Projects of China (2021ZD0201801 and 2021ZD0201808). CQ received grants from the Swedish Research Council (grants no.: 2017-05819 and 2020-01574), the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (grant no.: CH2019-8320), and the Karolinska Institutet (grants no.: 2018-01854 and 2020-01456), Stockholm, Sweden. LJL is supported by the Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, Maryland, USA. The funding agency had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, the writing of this manuscript, and in the decision to submit the work for publication.