Physiological consequences of prolonged static sedentary work among corporate desk employees: a systematic review with implications for the Indian occupational context.

BACKGROUND

Corporate desk employees spend 6-10 h per working day in sustained static sitting, yet no systematic review has synthesized the multi-pathway physiological evidence for this population with reference to the Indian occupational context.

METHODS

Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020-compliant systematic review. PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) were searched (January 2012 to December 2025). Research question was framed using Population, Intervention (or Exposure), Comparator, Outcomes, and Study Design (PICOS). Eleven peer-reviewed sources were included and synthesized narratively by physiological pathway.

RESULTS

Included evidence reports WMSD prevalence up to 80.81% among office workers, with IL-6 proposed as a full mediator of the postural load to lower back disorder pathway (OR = 4.27; 95% CI: 1.50-12.10). Popliteal artery FMD declined from 7.1% to 2.8% after 3 h of uninterrupted sitting in a controlled laboratory study, through a shear stress mechanism. Sedentary time exceeding 10.6 daily hours is associated with 40-60% greater cardiovascular mortality risk, independent of physical activity compliance, consistent with the Active Couch Potato hypothesis.

CONCLUSION

Prolonged static sitting is associated with harm across musculoskeletal, vascular, inflammatory, and cardiovascular pathways through mechanisms current ergonomic interventions do not fully address. Lower limb muscular inactivity appears to be the common upstream factor. Indian-specific occupational cohort studies are the primary evidence gap identified.

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