Moderate Activity Best for Preventing HF in Older Patients

Moderate activity, especially 20 minutes a day of walking of cycling, decreased the risk of developing heart failure by 21% among 60-year-old men, according to a recent study.

Surprisingly, these benefits did not translate to those men with high levels of daily physical activity, according to researchers.
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In order to investigate whether levels of total physical activity were associated with the risk of developing heart failure, researchers conducted a population study of 33,012 men between 1998 and 2012. Participants were approximately 60-years-old, did not have heart failure, and filled out questionnaires asking about their levels of physical activity within the last year, and when they were 30 years old.

Researchers assigned different types of physical activity metabolic equivalent (MET) scores: walking/bicycling (3.6 METs), exercise (5 METs), a sedentary job (1.3 METs), heavy manual work (3.9 METs), housework (2.5 METs), and inactivity (1.2 METs).

During follow-up, researchers observed 3,609 first events of heart failure.

Overall, compared with men with moderate levels of activity (41 MET hours per day), men with the highest (57 METs) and lowest (38 METs) levels of physical activity were at a 47% and 51% greater risk of developing heart failure, respectively.

Specifically, walking or bicycling for at least 20 minutes a day and was associated with a 21% lower risk of heart failure

“This study suggests that both low levels and high levels of total physical activity, in comparison with moderate levels, could increase heart failure risk in men and that certain types of physical activity are associated with a protective effect on heart failure in men,” they concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Physical activity and heart failure risk in a prospective study of men. JCHF. August 2015 [epub ahead of print]. doi:10.1016/j.jchf.2015.05.006.