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Healthy lifestyle linked to reductions in HF
Wang Y. Circ Heart Fail. 2011;[Published online ahead of print Sept. 13, 2011].
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Patients can reduce the incidence of HF by engaging in at least three healthy lifestyle factors a day, according to a study.
In this national population-based study, researchers mailed five questionnaires to participating Finnish men and women in 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2002, which included questions on medical history, socioeconomic factors, physical activity, smoking habits, dietary intake, alcohol consumption, and MI or diabetes mellitus history. Overall, patients ranged in ages from 25 to 74 years. Lifestyle factors, such as smoking, BMI, physical activity, vegetable, fruit and alcohol consumption, were examined using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models in 38,737 participants. None of the participants had HF at baseline.
Researchers found 638 men and 445 women developed HF during a median follow-up of 14.1 years. When researchers included smoking, BMI, physical activity and vegetable intake in the analysis, HF was associated with an HR of 1.00 in men engaging in no healthy lifestyle factors; 0.69 (95% CI, 0.54-0.87) with one healthy lifestyle factor; 0.45 (95% CI, 0.35-0.58) with two healthy lifestyle factors; 0.34 (95% CI, 0.25-0.46) with three healthy lifestyle factors; and 0.31 (95% CI, 0.17-0.56) with four healthy lifestyle factors. For women, the HR was 1.00 with no healthy lifestyle factors; 0.53 (95% CI, 0.33-0.85) with one healthy lifestyle factor; 0.42 (95% CI, 0.26-0.67) with two healthy lifestyle factors; 0.24 (95% CI, 0.14-0.39) with three healthy lifestyle factors; and 0.19 (95% CI, 0.09-0.40) with four healthy lifestyle factors.
Two important risk factors for HF were smoking status and obesity. When compared with nonsmokers, the HR was 1.86 (95% CI, 1.51-2.30) for men and 2.09 (95% CI, 1.59-2.74) for women who currently smoked. Participants were associated with decreased HF risk when they participated in moderate to high levels of physical activity and vegetable consumption more than three times per week, according to the study. Researchers found no significant associations with fruit and alcohol consumption and HF risk.
“Any steps you take to stay healthy can reduce your risk of HF,” Gang Hu, MD, director of the Chronic Disease Epidemiology Laboratory at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, said in a press release. “Hypothetically, about half of new HF cases occurring in this population have been prevented if everyone engaged in at least three healthy lifestyle behaviors.”
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