Background: Although sedentary behavior is a risk factor of cardiometabolic diseases and mortality, little information is available about a clinical impact of occupational sedentary behavior on chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Methods: The present retrospective cohort study included 10,212 workers of a national university in Japan who underwent annual health checkups between April 2006 and March 2013. Main exposure of interest was self-reported occupational sedentary behavior at the baseline visit. The outcome was the incidence of proteinuria defined as dipstick urinary protein of 1 + or more. The association between sedentary workers and the incidence of proteinuria was assessed using Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for clinically relevant factors, including television viewing time, the major home sedentary behavior.
Results: During median 4.8 years (interquartile range 2.1-7.9) of the observational period, the incidence of proteinuria was observed in 597 (12.0%) males and 697 (13.3%) females. In males, sedentary workers were identified as a significant predictor of proteinuria (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio of non-sedentary and sedentary workers: 1.00 [reference] and 1.35 [1.11-1.63]), along with longer television viewing time (< 30 min, 30-60 min, 1-2 h, 2-3 h, and > 3 h/day: 1.15 [0.93-1.42], 1.00 [reference], 1.24 [1.00-1.53], 1.41 [1.03-1.93], and 1.77 [1.13-2.76]), whereas not daily exercise time. In females, neither sedentary workers nor television viewing time was associated with the incidence of proteinuria.
Conclusions: In conclusion, male sedentary workers were at high risk of proteinuria. Occupational sedentary behavior may be a potentially modifiable target for the prevention of CKD.
Keywords: Occupational sedentary behavior; Proteinuria; Sex difference; Sitting time.