How good is physical activity for decreasing cardiovascular disease?

There has been plenty of evidence for being physically active in preventing heart attacks and strokes. A study published in 2021 of 90,211 individuals between 40 and 69 years old in the United Kingdom has found that exercise may be more critical than previously thought. The subjects were of the more comprehensive UK Biobank study.

The subjects wore accelerometers (motion sensors or research quality Fitbits) on their wrists to measure physical activity over seven days between 2013 and 2015.

There were 3,617 cases of cardiovascular disease diagnosed in the 90,211 individuals. As the amount of moderate and vigorous physical activity increased, there was a decrease in cardiovascular disease cases. What was interesting is that there was no threshold where the impact of exercise stopped. In other words, the more active one was, the greater the benefit. The most active subjects, ones in the top 25 percentile, had an average reduction in cardiovascular disease risk of between 48 and 57% compared to the bottom 25%.

The top 25% performed approximately 50 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week, such as running, well those in the bottom 25% performed less than 10 minutes on vigorous physical activity per week.

Lower activity participants were more likely to smoke, had higher body mass index and C-reactive protein (concentrations rise in response to inflammation), and were more likely to be diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure). Although subjects who exercised were less likely to smoke, drink alcohol and be overweight, this was accounted for in the analysis, and the association between increased exercise and a decrease in cardiovascular disease was still very significant. The results were similar for men and women.

The findings support the new World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines on physical activity, which recommend at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity per week for adults.

Bottom Line

• Be as active as possible

• Include some vigorous physical activity

Ramakrishnan R, Doherty A, Smith-Byrne K, et al. Accelerometer measured physical activity and the incidence of cardiovascular disease: Evidence from the UK Biobank cohort study. Paluch A, ed. PLOS Med. 2021;18(1):e1003487. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003487