Accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary behaviour in people with and without chronic diseases

Background: Physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) are major determinants of the risk and management of chronic diseases. A limited number of large-scale studies compare objectively measured PA and SB in people with and without chronic diseases. Purpose: This study aimed to compare levels of PA and SB in individuals with and without chronic diseases, acknowledging sociodemographic factors. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted with data from 24,826 participants (53% women), aged 50- 64, from the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study (SCAPIS) cohort. Chronic disease diagnoses were retrieved from national registries, using ICD codes. Participants were classified into a chronic disease group and a multi-morbidity group. PA and SB were measured with a triaxial hip-worn accelerometer, worn for seven consecutive days. General linear models, adjusted for sociodemographic factors, were used to acquire estimated means of average daily minutes of PA and SB intensities in chronic disease and multi-morbidity groups. Results: Time spent in light-intensity PA (LIPA), moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) or SB did not differ between participants with a chronic disease and participants without. However, participants with four or more chronic diseases had significantly lower MVPA (5 minutes/day) and higher time in SB (6 minutes/day) compared to participants without chronic diseases. Women had significantly higher LIPA, lower MVPA and lower SB than men, regardless of chronic disease status. Participants with a higher education had significantly lower LIPA and higher SB than participants with a lower education, regardless of chronic disease status. Conclusions: when using an extensive set of diagnoses in chronic disease and multi-morbidity groups, marginal differences in PA and SB were seen between individuals living with and without chronic diseases. Moreover, sociodemographic factors, rather than living with chronic disease, seem to be significantly associated with time spent in PA and SB.