Physical exercise may be even more important for the prevention of cardiovascular disease than previously known – and the more activity the better, suggested a new large study led by the University of Oxford.
To measure physical activity, researchers in the UK found 90,211 individuals to wear an accelerometer (a small, lightweight motion sensor) on their wrist during a seven-day period between 2013 and 2015. The researchers measured the health of the participants on average followed five years.
Overall, there were 3,617 cases of cardiovascular disease diagnosed among the participants, which was part of the broader UK biobank study among people between 40 and 69 years old. Cases of cardiovascular disease decreased among the participants as the amount of moderate and vigorous physical activity increased. In addition, there was no threshold where the effects of exercise ceased to improve cardiovascular health, the study found. Those who were most active – in the top 25% – had an average risk reduction of between 48% and 57%.
“During the pandemic, people did not get as many ‘accidental’ activities due to confinement or self-imposed isolation, especially not with regard to travel or movement through an office,” said Terence Dwyer, an emeritus professor. of epidemiology at the University of Oxford and an author of the study published Tuesday.
“This means that they need to take more purposeful activities to maintain even what they have done before. Our findings need to give them more confidence that this is something they really need to pay attention to. It should also provide confidence in increasing their PA (physical). activity)) outside the levels they regularly took before the pandemic. ”
People in the top 25% did about 50 minutes per week of high-intensity physical activity, such as running, while those in the bottom 25% had less than 10 minutes per week of high-intensity physical activity, said lead study author Aiden Doherty. an associate professor at Oxford University’s Nuffield Division of Population Health.
Although those who exercised more were also more likely not to smoke, drink less alcohol and have a healthy body weight, the researchers said they took these factors into account in their analysis and found that the link between increased exercise and ‘ a decrease in cardiovascular disease was still. strong.
These results, according to the researchers, showed that exercise alone has a significant effect on the risk of being diagnosed with cardiovascular disease.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, claiming approximately 17.9 million lives annually.
Most studies that examine the benefits of physical activity usually use questionnaires, which may be less accurate, as most people cannot accurately recall all activities that take place during the day – both for relaxation and as part of the person’s daily routine. routine.
According to the researchers, they were confident that wearing the device, which they described as a ‘research-grade Fitbit’, was an accurate way to reflect an individual’s normal activity over time, even though it was only seven days’ physical recorded activity.
Other research has shown that activity measured in this way was ‘moderately stable,’ Doherty said, and more research has been done to determine its accuracy.
“Using this more accurate measurement, and in a large number of people, we found that the lowest risk for cardiovascular disease in the UK biobank group is seen at the highest level of physical activity, whether total, moderate or strong – intensity, He said.
“This is the largest study ever of device-measured physical activity and cardiovascular disease. It shows that physical activity is probably even more important for the prevention of cardiovascular disease than we previously thought. Our findings give further weight to the new WHO guidelines on physical disease activity that recommends at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity per week for all adults. “
The results of the study were similar for men and women, although the benefits of vigorous exercise appear to be particularly strong for women.