Abstract
AimPhysical activity (PA) confers some protection against development of heart failure (HF) but little is known of the role of intensity and duration of exercise.Methods and ResultsIn a prospective cohort study of men and women free of previous MI, stroke or HF with one or more examinations in 1976–2003, we studied the association between updated self-assessed leisure-time PA, speed and duration of walking and subsequent hospitalization or death from HF. Light and moderate/high level of leisure-time PA and brisk walking were associated with reduced risk of HF in both genders whereas no consistent association with duration of walking was seen. In 18,209 subjects age 20–80 with 1580 cases of HF, using the lowest activity level as reference, the confounder-adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for light and moderate/high leisure-time physical activity were 0.75 (0.66–0.86) and 0.80 (0.69–0.93), respectively. In 9,937 subjects with information on walking available and 542 cases of HF, moderate and high walking speed were associated with adjusted HRs of 0.53 (0.43–0.66) and 0.30 (0.21–0.44), respectively, and daily walking of ½–1 hrs, 1–2 and >2 hrs with HR of 0.80 (0.61–1.06), 0.82 (0.62–1.06), and 0.96 (0.73–1.27), respectively. Results were similar for both genders and remained robust after exclusion of HF related to coronary heart disease and after a series of sensitivity analyses.ConclusionsSpeed rather than duration of walking was associated with reduced risk of HF. Walking is the most wide-spread PA and public health measures to curb the increase in HF may benefit from this information.
Highlights
With aging of the population chronic heart failure (HF) has become a major health issue throughout the world
Walking is the most widespread physical activity (PA) and public health measures to curb the increase in HF may benefit from this information
Recent evidence suggests that speed rather than duration of the PA has a stronger effect on the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) [6,7,8], coronary heart disease (CHD) [9,10], and allcause mortality [7,11]
Summary
With aging of the population chronic heart failure (HF) has become a major health issue throughout the world. The prevalence of heart failure is approximately 1–2% in the western world reaching $10% among persons 70 years of age or older [1]. Improved knowledge on the effects of physical activity (PA), including intensity and duration, on development of HF is important for clarifying potential mechanisms and for providing guidance on PA recommendations in prevention of HF. Recent evidence suggests that speed rather than duration of the PA has a stronger effect on the risk of CVD [6,7,8], coronary heart disease (CHD) [9,10], and allcause mortality [7,11]. Several studies have found that PA is associated with reduced risk of developing HF [12,13,14,15,16,17,18], but there are no studies of the effects of walking or that differentiate between the effects of intensity and duration
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