Table 1.

Characteristics of 30 included studies.

Study	Study Age (year) a	Participants	Design	Arms	Outcomesb
Dunstan et al. (2012)10	53.8 ± 4.9	19 overweight/obese adults, 11 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥6 days washout period	PS: 420 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of light-intensity walking every 20 min MPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of moderate-intensity walking every 20 min	1, 2
Duvivier et al. (2013)11	21.0 ± 2.0	18 healthy adults, 2 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥10 days washout period	PS: 840 min/day LPA-INT: sitting 480 min/day and 360 min activity breaks with 240 min of walking and 120 min of standing VPA-INT: sitting 780 min/day and 60 min of vigorous exercise	1, 2
Newsom et al. (2013)12	28.0 ± 2.0	11 obese adults, 3 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥7 days washout period	PS: 480 min LPA-CON: sitting 390 min and a single bout of exercise (∼70 min, 50%VO2peak) MPA-CON: sitting 375 min and a single bout of exercise (∼55 min, 65%VO2peak)	1, 2
Peddie et al. (2013)13	25.9 ± 5.3	70 normal-weight adults, 28 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥6 days (6–13) washout period	PS: 540 min MPA-CON: sitting 510 min and a single 30-min bout of brisk walking (60%VO2max) MPA-INT: sitting 510 min and 100-s bouts of brisk walking (60%VO2max) every 30 min	1, 2
Holmstrup et al. (2014)20	25 (18–35)	11 young obese participants with impaired glucose tolerance, 8 males	Randomized crossover trial	PS: 720 min MPA-CON: sitting interrupted with a single 60-min bout of moderate-intensity exercise (60%–65%VO2max) after breakfast MPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 5-min bouts of moderate-intensity exercise every 60 min	1, 2
Thorp et al. (2014)14	48.2 ± 7.9	23 overweight/obese adults, 17 males	Randomized crossover trial, 7‒35 days washout period	PS: 480 min STA-INT: sitting interrupted with 30 min of standing every 30 min	1, 2
Bailey et al. (2015)15	24.0 ± 3.0	10 non-obese adults, 7 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥6 days washout period	PS: 300 min STA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of standing every 20 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of light-intensity walking (3.2 km/h) every 20 min	1
Larsen et al. (2015)16	56.7 ± 1.5	19 overweight/obese adults, 11 males	Randomized crossover trial ≥12 days washout period	PS: 420 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of walking every 20 min (3.2 km/h)	1, 2
Bailey et al. (2016)17	26.6 ± 8.5	13 healthy adults, 6 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥7 days washout period	PS: 300 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of light-intensity walking (3.2 km/h) every 20 min MPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of moderate-intensity walking (5.8‒7.9 km/h) every 20 min	1, 2
Hansen et al. (2016)21	22 (20–23)	14 healthy, young, normal-weight adults, 6 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥4 days washout period	PS: 150 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of light-intensity walking (3.5‒4.5 km/h) every 20 min	1
Hawari et al. (2016)22	33.0 ± 13.0	10 normoglycemic, overweight/obese males	Randomized crossover trial, 7‒14 days washout period	PS: 480 min STA-CON: sitting interrupted with 15-min bouts of standing every 30 min STA-INT: sitting interrupted with 10 × 1.5-min bouts of standing every 30 min	1, 2
Henson et al. (2016)18	66.6 ± 4.7	22 overweight/obese, dysglycemic, postmenopausal women	Randomized crossover trial, 7‒22 days washout period	PS: 450 min STA-INT: sitting interrupted with 5-min bouts of standing every 30 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 5-min bouts of light-intensity walking every 30 min	1, 2
Miyashita et al. (2016)19	68.8 ± 3.2	15 postmenopausal women	Randomized crossover trial, ≥7 days washout period	PS: 480 min LPA-CON: sitting interrupted with a single 30-min bout of light-intensity walking after breakfast LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 1.5-min bouts of light-intensity walking every 15 min after 2 meals (20 breaks)	1, 2
Wennberg et al. (2016)23	59.7 ± 8.1	19 overweight/obese adults, 10 males	Randomized crossover trial, 6 days washout period	PS: 420 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 3-min bouts of light-intensity walking (3.2km/h) every 30 min	2
Benatti et al. (2017)39	30.1 ± 8.8	14 physically inactive, healthy adult males	Randomized crossover trial, 5‒15 days washout period	PS: 540 min STA-INT: sitting interrupted by 15 min of standing every 30 min during the 9-h sitting period MPA-CON: sitting interrupted with a single 30-min bout of moderate-intensity exercise (50%–55%VO2max) on treadmill	1, 2
Bhammar et al. (2017)24	32.0 ± 5.0	10 overweight/obese adults, 5 males	Randomized crossover trial, 6‒14 days washout period	PS: 540 min MPA-CON: sitting interrupted with a single 60-min bout of moderate-intensity walking (71% ± 4% HRmax) MPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of moderate-intensity walking (53% ± 5% HRmax) every 20 min; a total of 21 breaks VPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of vigorous-intensity walking (79% ± 4% HRmax) every 60 min; a total of 8 breaks	1
Brocklebank et al. (2017)25	52.4 ± 5.1	17 middle-aged office workers, 8 males	Randomized crossover trial, 24-h washout period	PS: 300 min STA-INT: sitting interrupted by 2 min of standing every 20 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted by 2 min of light-intensity walking every 20 min	1
Kerr et al. (2017)26	66.0 ± 9.0	10 sedentary, overweight or obese postmenopausal women	Randomized crossover trial, ≥7 days washout period	Prolonged sitting: 300 min STA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2 min of standing every 20 min, or sitting interrupted with 10 min of standing every hour LPA-INT: sitting interrupted by 2 min of light-intensity walking every 60 min	1, 2
McCarthy et al. (2017)27	66.0 ± 6.0	13 obese adults, 6 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥7 days washout period	PS: 450 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 5 min of seated arm ergometry (∼3 km/h light-intensity walking) every 30 min	1, 2
Pulsford et al. (2017)38	40.2 ± 12.2	25 inactive males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥6 days washout period	PS: 420 min STA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of standing every 20 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2-min bouts of light-intensity walking (3.2 km/h) every 20 min	1, 2
Champion et al. (2018)28	35.8 ± 10.9	24 inactive adults, 12 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥6 days washout period	PS: 390 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 20 min of light-intensity walking every 60 min	1, 2
Maylor et al. (2018)31	29.0 ± 9.0	14 sedentary and inactive adults, 7 males	Randomized crossover trial, 6–35 days washout period	PS: 480 min MPA-CON: sitting interrupted with 30 min of continuous moderate-intensity PA (60%VO2reserve) followed by PS for the remainder of the condition VPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2 min 32 s bouts of high-intensity PA (85%VO2reserve) every 60 min	1, 2
Sperlich et al. (2018)29	22.0 ± 2.0	12 normal-weight students, 5 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥3 days washout period	PS: 180 min VPA-CON: sitting interrupted with a single 6-min bout of high-intensity exercise (e.g., squats, lunge, and running)	1
Altenburg et al. (2019)33	19.2 ± 0.6	20 healthy-weight males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥6 days washout period	PS: 300 min STA-INT: sitting with hourly 10-min standing interruptions SitActive: sitting on a stability ball	1, 2
Chrismas et al. (2019)34	27 (21‒44)	11 sedentary obese females	Randomized crossover trial, 6‒8 days washout period	PS: 300 min MPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 3 min of moderate-intensity walking every 30 min at a speed corresponding to a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) of 12‒14 identified during the familiarization session	1, 2
Freire et al. (2019)35	24.4 ± 3.8	25 excess body fat adults, 10 males	Randomized crossover trial, 7 days washout period	PS: 600 min MPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 5 min of moderate-intensity walking at habitual gait speed (reaching 10,000 steps) every 20 min VPA-CON: sitting interrupted with a single 10-min bout of high-intensity exercise (running)	1
Hawari et al. (2019)30	37.0 ± 16.0	14 overweight/obese adults, 11 males	Randomized crossover trial, 1‒2 weeks washout period	PS: 390 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 30 s of 10 chair squats every 20 min	1, 2
Maylor et al. (2019)37	33.8 ± 13.4	14 sedentary and inactive females	Randomized crossover trial, ≥7 days washout period	PS: 450 min MPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 2 min of moderate-intensity treadmill physical activity every 30 min	1, 2
Ma et al. (2020)36	24.0 ± 3.0	16 non-obese, inactive, healthy adults, 7 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥7 days washout period	PS: 540 min MPA-INT - Group 1: sitting interrupted with 3-min bouts of moderate-intensity walking (60%VO2max) every 30 min, a total of 36-min breaks MPA-INT - Group 2: sitting interrupted with 5-min bouts of moderate-intensity walking (60%VO2max) every 45 min, a total of 45-min breaks MPA-INT - Group 3: sitting interrupted with 8-min bouts of moderate-intensity walking (60%VO2max) every 60 min, a total of 56-min breaks	1
Yates et al. (2020)32	70 (67‒75)	60 overweight adults (30 South Asian and 30 white European), 31 males	Randomized crossover trial, ≥7 days washout period	PS: 450 min STA-INT: sitting interrupted with 5-min standing breaks every 30 min LPA-INT: sitting interrupted with 5-min self-paced walking breaks every 30 min	1, 2

Abbreviations: HR = heart rate; HR_max = maximal heart rate; LPA-CON = light-intensity physical activity one bout of continuous interrupting; LPA-INT = light-intensity physical activity intermittent interrupting; MPA-CON = moderate-intensity physical activity one bout of continuous interrupting; MPA-INT = moderate-intensity physical activity intermittent interrupting; PS = prolonged sitting; SitActive = active sitting interrupting (e.g., sitting on a stability ball); STA-CON = standing one bout of continuous interrupting; STA-INT = standing intermittent interrupting; VO_2max = maximal oxygen uptake; VO_2peak = peak oxygen uptake; VO_2reserve = reserve oxygen uptake; VPA-CON = vigorous-intensity physical activity one bout of continuous interrupting; VPA-INT = vigorous-intensity physical activity intermittent interrupting.

^aThe mean ± SD or the mean with range of age in years was reported.

^bOutcome 1 stands for postprandial glycemia; Outcome 2 stands for postprandial insulin response.