Long sedentary time is associated with worsened cardiometabolic risk factors among university employees in Eastern Ethiopia

Sedentary time is associated with increased risks of detrimental health outcomes. Prolonged sedentary time associates with cardiometabolic risk factors and increased mortality regardless of physical activity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the associations of sedentary time and cardiometabolic risk factors among university employees in Eastern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1200 participants. Data were collected using the World Health Organization STEPS survey instrument, and sedentary behavior questionnaire in hour per day. Sedentary time is the time spent for any duration (minutes per day or hours per day) by considering a local context. Study participants were asked how many minutes or hours they spent in sedentary time at work, their leisure time and in transportation. Finally, the total sedentary time was calculated by the sum of the individual spent in sedentary time at work, leisure, and transportation. Cardiometabolic risk factors were assessed with blood samples analysis and anthropometric measurements. The associations between sedentary time and cardiometabolic risk factors were examined using linear regression models. An adjusted coefficient (β) with the 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to report the results. p value < 0.05 was considered for statistical significance. The mean age of the study participants were (35 ± 9.4 years). Almost half of the study participants, 566 (48.6) were women and 598 (51.4%) were men. As the total sedentary time was increased by one unit, the body mass index increased by β = 0.61; (95% CI 0.49–0.71),waist circumference increased by β = 1.48; (95% CI 1.14–1.82), diastolic blood pressure increased by β = 0.87; (95% CI 0.56–1.18), systolic blood pressure increased by β = 0.95; (95% CI 0.45–1.48), triglycerides increased by β = 7.07; (95% CI 4.01–10.14), total cholesterol increased by β = 3.52; (95% CI 2.02–5.02), fasting plasma glucose increased by β = 4.15; (95% CI 5.31–4.98) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased by β = 2.14; (95% CI 0.96–3.33) with the effects of other variables maintain constant. These findings depict the need for strategies that policymakers should promote physical activity and encouraging the breaking up of prolonged sedentary time to reduce cardiometabolic risk factors among university employees in Ethiopia.