Any Exercise Counts Against CVD

The analysis of a UK cohort study suggests that a weekend warrior pattern of physical activity was associated with similarly lower risks of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) to regular activity. A total of 89 573 individuals (mean age, 62 years; 56% women) who underwent accelerometry were included. When stratified at the threshold of 150 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per week, a total of 37 872 were in the active weekend warrior (WW, ≥50% of total MVPA achieved in 1-2 days, 42.2%) group, 21 473 were in the active regular group (24.0%), and 30 228 were in the inactive group (<150 minutes, 33.7%). In multivariable-adjusted models, both activity patterns were associated with similarly lower risks of incident atrial fibrillation (active WW: hazard ratio [HR], 0.78; active regular: 0.81; inactive: HR, 1.00), myocardial infarction (active WW: 0.73; active regular: 0.65; and inactive: 1.00), heart failure (active WW: 0.62; active regular: 0.64; and inactive: 1.00), and stroke (active WW: 0.79; active regular: 0.83; and inactive: 1.00). Results were consistent at the median threshold of 230.4 minutes or more of MVPA per week, although associations with stroke were no longer significant (active WW: 0.89; active regular: 0.87; and inactive: 1.00). The findings are in line with previous studies and highlight the flexibility with which physical activity can be accumulated to achieve health benefits. Although there is individual variability in health benefits, any exercise counts, and every minute counts, especially among inactive individuals. Source: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/