Physical activity and cardiovascular health: lessons learned from epidemiological studies across age, gender, and race/ethnicity.

Description

The objective of this review was to summarize the epidemiological evidence underlying the association between physical activity and cardiovascular health. For that purpose, the authors referred to the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans as well as more recently published studies. It is well established that physically active individuals have lower rates of coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). For instance, the most active individuals, compared with the least active, have an ≈30% to 40% risk reduction in CHD/CVD. This inverse relation is present across various age groups, but limited data are available for individuals aged ≥80 years. Such associations have been reported in both men and women and the magnitude of the relationship may be even more pronounced in women. Although there are few data on nonwhite populations, the inverse association seems to be present across different racial/ethnic groups. It is also reported that increasing amounts of physical activity are associated with additional risk reductions in both men and women, but the shape of the dose-response curve is not well defined. The physical activity guidelines requires at least 150 min/week of moderate or 75 min/week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity. Furthermore, the recommendations to acquire additional benefits are 300 min/week of moderate or 150 min/week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity. Although some studies indicate that being physically fit can attenuate the excess risk of CVD associated with obesity, evidence also suggest higher levels of physical activity do not fully remove the increased risk associated with obesity. Both are independently associated with increased risk, but not cancelling each other’s risk. Moreover, it has been recently documented that a sedentary behaviour appears to be independently associated with cardiovascular risk. Thus, reducing sedentary time and increasing physical activity/exercise must be targeted. Finally, the authors suggest that increasing the precision and accuracy of the tools to assess physical activity and sedentary behaviour through the use of specialized devices must be the goal of future studies to improve our understanding of the health benefits of regular physical activity.