Societal and technological changes have resulted in sitting being the dominant posture
during most activities of daily living, such as learning, working, travelling and leisure time. Too much
time spent in seated activities, referred to as sedentary behaviour, is a novel concern for public health
as it is one of the key lifestyle causes of poor health. The European DEDIPAC (Determinants of Diet
and Physical Activity) Knowledge Hub coordinated the work of 35 institutions across 12 European member states to investigate the determinants of sedentary behaviour. DEDIPAC reviewed current
evidence, set a theoretical framework and harmonised the available epidemiological data. The main
results are summarised. The conclusion is that there is a dire lack of data that is exploitable across
Europe to inform policy and intervention. There is an urgent need to develop international data
collection compliant with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Re-usable) and standardised
surveillance systems for sedentary behaviour