BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

• Previous studies on fitness and cardiovascular disease (CVD) tend to rely on small sample sets and rely on self-reporting
• Tikkanen et al. (Circulation 2018) determined the effectiveness of physical activity in preventing cardiovascular disease in those predisposed due to genetic factors

METHODS:

• Large longitudinal cohort study
  • Individuals 40 to 69 years of age enrolled in the UK Biobank cohort study (2006 to 2010)
  • Includes detailed health assessments and collection of blood, urine, and saliva samples
  • Participants agreed to have their future health/disease events followed and monitored
• Data collected include grip strength, objective and subjective physical activity, and cardiorespiratory fitness along with cardiovascular events and all-cause death
• Associations were further examined in individuals with different genetic burden by stratifying individuals based on their genetic risk score for coronary heart disease and atrial fibrillation
• Disease risk was compared between individuals in different tertiles (data broken down in to 3 parts each containing a 3^rd of the population) of fitness, physical activity, and genetic risk
• Statistical analysis was based using hazard ratio (HR)

RESULTS:

• The UK biobank incudes 502,635 participants and 54% were women
• Grip strength, physical activity, and cardiorespiratory fitness showed inverse associations with incident cardiovascular events

Coronary Heart Disease

• Grip strength: HR 0.79 (95% CI, 0.77 to 0.81)
• Physical Activity: HR 0.95 (95% CI, 0.93 to 0.97)
• Cardiorespiratory fitness: HR 0.68 (95% CI, 0.63 to 0.74)

Atrial Fibrillation

• Grip strength: HR, 0.75 (95% CI, 0.73 to 0.76)
• Physical activity: HR 0.93 (95% CI, 0.91 to 0.95)
• Cardiorespiratory: HR 0.60 (95% CI, 0.56 to 0.65)
• Higher grip strength and cardiorespiratory fitness were associated with lower risk of incident coronary heart disease and atrial fibrillation in each genetic risk score group (Ptrend <0.001 in each genetic risk category)
• In particular, high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness were associated with 49% lower risk for coronary heart disease (HR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.69) and 60% lower risk for atrial fibrillation (HR, 0.40; 95%, CI 0.30 to 0.55) among individuals at high genetic risk for these diseases

CONCLUSION:

• Physical activity demonstrates inverse correlations with incident cardiovascular disease in not only in the overall population, but especially in those with genetic risk as well

Learn More – Primary Sources:

Associations of Fitness, Physical Activity, Strength, and Genetic Risk With Cardiovascular Disease: Longitudinal Analyses in the UK Biobank Study

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