Lifestyle Intervention Effective in Preventing CVD

A multi-domain lifestyle intervention among older Finnish adults was effective in preventing cerebrovascular events and total cardiovascular disease (CVD) events among those with a history of CVD. A total of 1259 individuals aged 60–77 years with elevated risk for dementia were randomized (1:1) to a 2-year multi-domain intervention with diet, physical and cognitive activity, and vascular monitoring (n = 631), or general health advice (n = 628). National registries provided data on CVD including stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA), or coronary heart event. During an average of 7.4 years follow-up, 18% of participants had at least one CVD diagnosis: 107 in the intervention group and 122 in the control group. The incidence of cerebrovascular events was lower in the intervention than the control group: hazard ratio (HR) for combined stroke/TIA was 0.71 after adjusting for background characteristics. HR was 0.84 and 0.80, respectively, for coronary and total CVD events. Among those with history of CVD (n = 145), the incidence of both total CVD events (HR: 0.50) and stroke/TIA (HR: 0.40) was lower in the intervention than the control group. The findings are in line with previous studies and demonstrate a beneficial effect of lifestyle intervention on CVD in addition to cognition. Source: https://academic.oup.com/