A recent study conducted on a 69,950 female nurses for over a period of 18 years, by Dr Christopher Kabrhel and colleagues concluded that women who lead sedentary lives were more prone to develop pulmonary embolism.
What is pulmonary embolism? The blood clot or the thrombus can break off and easily travel the circulatory system of the body. Pulmonary embolism develops when the emboli get clogged in the pulmonary circulation, i.e. in the lungs. This causes decreased blood supply to the lungs, and also prevents the exchange of oxygen and carbon-dioxide. It causes infarct of the lung tissue. The presenting symptoms include difficulty in breathing, coughing and chest pain.
Dr. James Douketis, who is the director of vascular medicine of McMaster University in Hamilton and Alfonso Iorio of McMaster’s department of clinical epidemiology and biostatistics, says that prolonged physical inactivity could be one of the underlying mechanisms that link arterial and venous diseases. Sedentary lifestyle can be also linked with cardiac ailments as well as hypertension.
Pulmonary embolism is stated to be twice in proportion in women who spend most of the time sitting. However factors like age, BMI (Body Mass Index), smoking, and associated health conditions like hypertension, any other cardiac ailments or circulatory disorders etc carry equal importance were also considered while making the relevant conclusions.
