Excess sitting raises post-chest pain risks

New research shows that patients recovering from chest pain can lower their risk of complications or death by replacing just 30 minutes of sitting with movement or sleep

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Patients hospitalised with chest pain face a significantly higher risk of additional heart issues or death within a year if they remain sedentary after discharge.

That’s the key finding from a new peer-reviewed study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

In the study, researchers monitored 609 emergency room patients with chest pain (average age 62) using wearable physical activity trackers for 30 days post-discharge. The devices recorded movement, sitting time, and sleep. Patients were then followed for a year to assess health outcomes.

The results revealed that patients who averaged more than 15 hours of sedentary behaviour daily (excluding sleep) were more than twice as likely to experience further cardiac events or death compared to those who averaged 12 hours.