Sedentary behavior is highly prevalent in daily life and at work. The Sedentary Behavior Research Network (SBRN) defines sedentary behavior as any sitting activity that does not involve energy expenditure of ≤1.5 metabolic equivalents (METs) (Tremblay et al., 2017). Sedentary behavior is common among the elderly, individuals with mobility limitations, and in various occupations such as students, office workers, drivers, and programmers. The relationship between sedentary behavior and health outcomes is increasingly being recognized. Previous studies have linked sedentary behavior to an elevated risk of chronic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes mellitus (Matthews et al., 2021; Patterson et al., 2018; Wu et al., 2023; Young et al., 2016). Recent research suggests associations between sedentary behavior and adverse mental health outcomes such as anxiety, depression, and cognitive decline (Barbosa et al., 2024; Gogniat et al., 2025; Zhang et al., 2025b). There are various classifications of sedentary behavior, primarily passive mental sedentary behavior (such as watching television [TV] or videos or listening to music while sitting) and mentally active sedentary behavior (such as office work, reading, or engaging in handicrafts). Recent studies have shown that “passive mental” type sedentary behavior may pose a greater risk than active mental sedentary behavior (Hallgren et al., 2020; Huang et al., 2020). This study primarily focused on three types of sedentary behaviors: total daily sedentary time - any behavior during the day with a metabolic rate of ≤1.5 cal per minute, including sedentary behavior at work, at home, and during leisure time; daily screen time - daily use of TV, computers, tablets, smartphones, or video game consoles; and daily TV viewing (screen time) – passive exposure to screen, mainly for entertainment purposes.

Depression is a prevalent mental health disorder and a major public health concern owing to the complex interactions of social, psychological, and biological factors. Core symptoms include persistent low mood lasting two weeks or more, anhedonia, sleep disturbances, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, suicidal ideation, and cognitive impairment (Alexopoulos et al., 1988; Gotlib and Joormann, 2010; Little et al., 2024). Although numerous studies have suggested that prolonged sedentary behavior is associated with an increased risk of depression, the findings remain inconsistent. Wang et al.(Wang et al., 2019) and Li et al. (Li et al., 2022) found that individuals who reported longer sedentary screen time had a significantly higher risk of depression than those who reported less screen-based sedentary behavior. When stratified by gender, this association remained significant in women; however, no significant correlation was observed in men. Other studies (Liu et al., 2016) (Gao and Gao, 2024) have highlighted the influence of different types of screens as well as the impacts of age and population differences in the relationship between sedentary time and depression.

This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to synthesize prospective evidence on the association between different types of prolonged sedentary behavior and depression risk, and to investigate the potential dose-response relationships.