Medical and Physiological Benefits of Reduced Sitting

NCT03101228 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: T91/2017
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 64
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The most important objective of this randomized controlled trial in subjects with increased cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors is to investigate whether only reduced daily sitting improves human cardiovascular and metabolic health during a six-month intervention. It is hypothesized and expected that only reduced sitting, without formal physical activity or exercise training, affects favorably cardiovascular and metabolic health.

Conditions

Metabolic Syndrome; Physical Activity; Insulin Resistance; Cardiovascular Diseases

Keywords

Physical Activity; Metabolic Syndrome; Insulin Sensitivity; Cardiovascular Risk Factor; Sedentary Lifestyle; Accelerometry

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• The change in whole-body insulin sensitivity

  M-value during the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp

  The change from baseline to 6 months

• The change in skeletal muscle insulin-stimulated glucose uptake

  Glucose uptake in the femoral muscles will be measured by positron emission tomography (PET) with \[18F\]-labelled fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG) tracer during hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp

  The change from baseline to 6 months

Secondary Outcomes (10)

• daily sitting hours

  through study completion, an average of 6 months

• daily hours spent physically active

  through study completion, an average of 6 months

• The change in liver adiposity

  The change from baseline to 6 months

• The change in maximal oxygen uptake

  The change from baseline to 6 months

• The change in body fat percentage

  The change from baseline to 3 months

Study Arms (2)

Reduced sitting

EXPERIMENTAL

Objectively measured daily inactive time will be reduced by one hour compared to the baseline.

Behavioral: Reduced sitting

Control

NO INTERVENTION

Subjects will be guided to maintain their normal sedentary behaviour and physical activity habits.

Interventions

Reduced sitting BEHAVIORAL

Subjects are guided to limit their sitting time during the day for 1 hour/day, by adding light activity with the help of an activity monitor. Subjects are not encouraged to increase their moderate to vigorous physical activity levels.

Reduced sitting

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 40 Years - 65 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Physically inactive (less than 120 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week measured by the activity monitor during run-in)
• Sitting time ≥ 10 h /day (measured by the activity monitor during run-in)
• BMI 25-40
• Blood pressure \< 160/100 mmHg
• Fasting plasma glucose \< 7.0 mmol/l
• Fulfills the criteria of the metabolic syndrome according to Alberti et al 2009

You may not qualify if:

• History of a cardiac event
• Insulin or medically treated diabetes
• Any chronic disease or condition that could create a hazard to the subject safety, endanger the study procedures or interfere with the interpretation of study results
• Presence of ferromagnetic objects that would make MR imaging contraindicated
• Abundant use of alcohol
• Use of narcotics
• Smoking of tobacco or consuming snuff tobacco
• Diagnosed depressive or bipolar disorder
• Previous PET imaging or considerable exposure to radiation

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Turku University Hospital: lead
• UKK Institute: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Turku PET Centre

Turku, 20521, Finland

Location

Related Publications (8)

• Norha J, Sjoros T, Garthwaite T, Laine S, Laitinen K, Houttu N, Vaha-Ypya H, Sievanen H, Loyttyniemi E, Vasankari T, Knuuti J, Kalliokoski KK, Heinonen IHA. Secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial on reducing sedentary behaviour and its effects on quality of life and wellbeing. Sci Rep. 2025 Oct 22;15(1):36861. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-20836-7.

  PMID: 41125692 DERIVED

• Garthwaite T, Sjoros T, Laine S, Koivumaki M, Vaha-Ypya H, Norha J, Kallio P, Saarenhovi M, Loyttyniemi E, Sievanen H, Houttu N, Laitinen K, Kalliokoski KK, Vasankari T, Knuuti J, Heinonen I. Successfully Reducing Sitting Time Can Improve Metabolic Flexibility. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2025 Aug;35(8):e70113. doi: 10.1111/sms.70113.

  PMID: 40781908 DERIVED

• Ylinen VP, Sjoros T, Laine S, Garthwaite T, Norha J, Vaha-Ypya H, Loyttyniemi E, Houttu N, Laitinen K, Kalliokoski KK, Sievanen H, Vasankari T, Knuuti J, Heinonen IH. Sedentary behavior reduction and blood lipids in adults with metabolic syndrome: a 6-month randomized controlled trial. Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 16;14(1):24241. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-75579-8.

  PMID: 39414998 DERIVED

• Norha J, Sjoros T, Garthwaite T, Laine S, Verho T, Saunavaara V, Laitinen K, Houttu N, Hirvonen J, Vaha-Ypya H, Sievanen H, Loyttyniemi E, Vasankari T, Kalliokoski K, Heinonen I. Effects of reducing sedentary behaviour on back pain, paraspinal muscle insulin sensitivity and muscle fat fraction and their associations: a secondary analysis of a 6-month randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2024 Sep 28;14(9):e084305. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-084305.

  PMID: 39343453 DERIVED

• Sjoros T, Norha J, Johansson R, Laine S, Garthwaite T, Vaha-Ypya H, Loyttyniemi E, Kalliokoski KK, Sievanen H, Vasankari T, Knuuti J, Heinonen IHA. Tiredness after work associates with less leisure-time physical activity. Sci Rep. 2024 Apr 4;14(1):7965. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-58775-4.

  PMID: 38575674 DERIVED

• Sjoros T, Laine S, Garthwaite T, Vaha-Ypya H, Loyttyniemi E, Koivumaki M, Houttu N, Laitinen K, Kalliokoski KK, Sievanen H, Vasankari T, Knuuti J, Heinonen IHA. Reducing Sedentary Time and Whole-Body Insulin Sensitivity in Metabolic Syndrome: A 6-Month Randomized Controlled Trial. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2023 Mar 1;55(3):342-353. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003054. Epub 2022 Oct 13.

  PMID: 36251378 DERIVED

• Norha J, Hautala AJ, Sjoros T, Laine S, Garthwaite T, Knuuti J, Loyttyniemi E, Vaha-Ypya H, Sievanen H, Vasankari T, Heinonen IHA. Standing time and daily proportion of sedentary time are associated with pain-related disability in a one month accelerometer measurement in adults with overweight or obesity. Scand J Pain. 2021 Sep 27;22(2):317-324. doi: 10.1515/sjpain-2021-0108. Print 2022 Apr 26.

  PMID: 34582633 DERIVED

• Sjoros T, Vaha-Ypya H, Laine S, Garthwaite T, Lahesmaa M, Laurila SM, Latva-Rasku A, Savolainen A, Miikkulainen A, Loyttyniemi E, Sievanen H, Kalliokoski KK, Knuuti J, Vasankari T, Heinonen IHA. Both sedentary time and physical activity are associated with cardiometabolic health in overweight adults in a 1 month accelerometer measurement. Sci Rep. 2020 Nov 25;10(1):20578. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-77637-3.

  PMID: 33239818 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Metabolic Syndrome; Motor Activity; Insulin Resistance; Cardiovascular Diseases; Sedentary Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Hyperinsulinism; Glucose Metabolism Disorders; Metabolic Diseases; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Behavior

Study Officials

• Juhani Knuuti, Professor

  Turku PET Centre, Turku University Hospital

  STUDY CHAIR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Due to the nature of the intervention, masking of the participants is not possible. Analyzing of the obtained data will be masked.
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER GOV
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Model Details: A parallel-group randomised controlled trial

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 24, 2017
• First Posted: April 5, 2017
• Study Start: April 25, 2017
• Primary Completion: February 14, 2020
• Study Completion: March 4, 2020
• Last Updated: April 8, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-04

Locations

FI (1)