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Physical activity influences functional outcomes from cerebral vascular events

Rist P. Stroke. 2011;doi:10.1161/STROKEAHA.111.619544.

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New data on the effect of physical activity and functional outcomes from cerebral vascular events in men suggest that physical activity may help to reduce the risk for stroke and transient ischemic attack, but physical activity before stroke or transient ischemic attack does not seem to influence functional outcomes after cerebral vascular events.

The Physician’s Health Study had an enrollment of 21,794 men. Participants included in the study provided information on physical activity at baseline and did not have a history of stroke or TIA. Researchers defined physical activity as vigorous exercise less than one, one, two to four and five or more times per week, and researchers included TIA and stroke as possible functional outcomes with modified Rankin Scale score of zero to one, two to three or five to six. Questionnaires asking about health and lifestyle characteristics were provided for participants at baseline and at follow-up.

Overall, researchers found an occurrence of 1,146 ischemic strokes, 761 TIAs, 221 hemorrhagic strokes and 11 stroke of unknown type. Of the patients who reported physical activity information, 27.8% exercised less than one time per week, 18.4% exercised one time per week, 37.6% exercised two to four times per week and 16.3% exercised five times a week or more after a follow-up of 20.2 years. There was a reduced risk for TIA in men who exercised five times a week or more vs. men who exercised less than one time per week (RR=0.66; 95% CI, 0.52-0.84), as well as a reduced risk for stroke was found in men who exercised two to four times per week vs. men who exercised less than one time per week (RR=0.86; 95% CI, 0.75-0.98).

When looking at the modified Rankin Scale for stroke, study results showed that participants with a score of zero to one had an RR of 0.84 (95% CI, 0.61-1.14), an RR of 0.85 (95% CI, 0.67-1.08) with a score of two to three and an RR of 1.12 (95% CI, 0.78-1.60) with a score of five to six.

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