12 May 2008
Another reason not to go in to work?
Hot on the heels of the threat from killer keyboards in the office comes another reason why it might be safer to stay home and enjoy the hot weather - though skivers should note that lounging in a deckchair for prolonged periods might be just as hazardous…
The risk of developing blood clots with prolonged sitting at work or at home has been highlighted in a study published in the latest issue of Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
The study confirms previous studies in that prolonged sitting at work represents a common and important risk factor for developing blood clots that are potentially life-threatening and may present even more of a risk than long haul flights.
Professor Richard Beasley from Wellington Hospital (CCDHB) says “the current study represents a major advance from previous work in that it is a case-control study with considerably greater scientific merit than the previous case series.”
The new study identified that prolonged sitting at work was associated with a two-fold increased risk of developing a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE). Furthermore, both the maximum number of hours seated at work, as well as the number of hours seated without getting up, were associated with an increased risk of both DVT and PE.
The authors of the study recommend that with the current state of knowledge it would seem prudent to advise all people who commonly sit for prolonged periods at a computer to undertake frequent leg and foot exercises and to take regular breaks away from their computer.
These findings were similar to the situation with traveller’s thrombosis in which both the duration of the flight and immobility during the flight having been shown to be associated with an increased risk of DVT and PE.
Professor Richard Beasley says “the risk of developing blood clots with prolonged seated immobility is largely unrecognised. However, this study has shown that it is at least as important a factor as long distance air travel.”
"It is similar to the situation with the risk of blood clots with long distance air travel – it was not until there was research into its role that the real extent of the problem was appreciated."
[ends]
A case-control study of seated immobility at work as a risk factor for venous thromboembolism [PDF 209k]
Notes:
The case-control study involved interviewing 97 consecutive patients (cases) under 65 years of age attending the Wellington Hospital outpatient clinic following a recent hospital admission for DVT or PE. A total of 106 patients under the age of 65 years who were admitted to the Coronary Care Unit at Wellington Hospital were also interviewed as the comparison (control) group.
The occurrence of DVT or PE after prolonged seated immobility associated with travel, work, or other situations has been termed the SIT (seated immobility thromboembolism) syndrome. The SIT syndrome was first recognised in people who died from pulmonary embolism after sitting in deck chairs for long periods in air raid shelters during the London Blitz in World War II.
The study was supported by the Wellington Hospitals and Health Foundation and undertaken in collaboration with the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand.
‘A case-control study of seated immobility at work as a risk factor for venous thromboembolism’ is published in the May issue of the Journal of the Royal Medical Society, volume 101.
JRSM is the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. It has full editorial independence of the RSM. It has been published continuously since 1809. Its Editor is Dr Kamran Abbasi.
The article is available free at www.jrsm.org.
