BACKGROUND: Associations of objectively assessed physical activity in different intensities and risk of developing chronic disease that requires hospital care have not yet been examined in long term population-based studies. Studies addressing the link between physical activity and sedentary time and subsequent hospital admissions are lacking.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the prospective associations between physical activity and sedentary time with morbidity defined as: 1) a registered main diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, cancer, type-2 diabetes, dementia, obesity or depression; 2) number of in- and outpatient hospital visits; and 3) number of in-hospital days.

METHODS: In total, 1220 women and men, 18-75 years, from the population-based Sweden Attitude Behaviour and Change study 2000-2001 were included. Time spent sedentary, in light-intensity physical activity and in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and total accelerometer counts were assessed using the ActiGraph 7164 accelerometer. Morbidity data were obtained 2016 from Swedish registers. Cox proportional hazards models estimated hazard ratios (HR) of morbidity with 95% confidence intervals (CI) and negative binomial regression estimated incidence rate ratio (IRR) with 95% CI for number of hospital visits, and length of hospital stay.

RESULTS: Over a follow-up of 14.4 years (SD = 1.6), 342 persons had at least one registered hospital visit due to any of the included diagnoses. Higher moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with significant risk reductions for combined morbidity (all included diagnoses) (HR: 0.65, 95% CI: 0.48-0.88) and cardiovascular disease (HR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.33-0.82). Higher total counts showed similar results, and was also associated with fewer hospital visits (IRR = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.37-0.85). Higher sedentary time increased the risk of in-hospital days. (IRR = 2.38, 95% CI: 1.20-4.74).

CONCLUSION: This study supports the importance of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity for preventing chronic disease that requires hospital care, especially cardiovascular disease. High volumes of sedentary behavior may increase the risk of future hospitalization. Our results support the public health message "sit less and move more".