Association of Sedentary Time with Hypertension and Mediating Effect of Uric Acid to High-Density Lipoprotein Ratio: an Analysis Based on NHANES 2017-2020 Data

BACKGROUNDSedentary behavior has been recognized as an important public health problem, but the specific mechanisms linking it to hypertension have not been fully elucidated. OBJECTIVETo explore the association between sedentary time and hypertension and to assess the mediating role of uric acid to high-density lipoprotein ratio (UHR) in the U.S. adult population. METHODSData from the 2017-2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were utilized. Weighted multiple logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between sedentary time and hypertension, and the role of UHR was assessed by mediation effect analysis. RESULTSSedentary time was found to be significantly and positively associated with hypertension. This association remained significant even after adjusting for sex, age, race, socioeconomic status, and other confounders.The UHR mediated the association between sedentary time and hypertension with a mediation ratio of 0.123 (95% CI: 0.04 to 0.43, p = 0.002), indicating that approximately 12.3% of the total effect was mediated by the UHR. All analyses were adjusted for confounding variables such as sex, age, race, and BMI. These results suggest a positive association between sedentary time and hypertension, partially mediated through UHR. CONCLUSIONIn US adults, increased sedentary time was found to be significantly associated with hypertension, and this association was partially mediated by UHR. Further studies are needed to validate this.