In older women, heart failure risk reduced with more daily physical activity
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Increased total daily physical activity and steps per day were linked to lower risk for overall heart failure among older women.
- Sedentary time was tied to greater heart failure risk.
Increased daily physical activity was associated with lower risk for overall de novo heart failure and HF with preserved ejection fraction among older women, according to study findings published in JAMA Cardiology.
“The 2018 U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines evidence report indicated that achieving the minimally recommended 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity is associated with 10% lower risk of incident overall HF compared with no activity. Results were sparse for adults aged 65 years and older and for HF with reduced EF and HFpEF subtypes,” Michael J. LaMonte, PhD, MPH, research professor in the department of epidemiology and environmental health at the School of Public Health and Health Professions – University at Buffalo, and colleagues wrote. “Although HF risk is even lower at greater than recommended PA levels, it is unclear if physical activity below recommended amounts or intensities reduces HF risk. Studies on sedentary behavior and HF risk are scarce.”
The OPACH study
LaMonte and colleagues designed the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health (OPACH) study to evaluate the impact of accelerometer-derived measures of physical activity, including light intensity activity, steps per day and sedentary time on HF risk among women aged 63 to 99 years.
Overall, 5,951 women (mean age, 79 years; 34% Black) without known HF at baseline were enrolled from March 2012 to April 2014 and completed 7 consecutive days of hip-worn triaxial accelerometry and were followed up through February 2022.
The mean minutes per day total physical activity was 339.4, of which 85% was light intensity with an average duration of 288.3 minutes per day, and the mean time spent sedentary was 10.3 hours per day.
Quartiles for daily physical activity were less than 276 minutes, 276 to 336 minutes, 337 to 397 minutes and more than 397 minutes. Quartiles for daily step count were less than 2,164, 2,164 to 3,210, 3,211 to 4,541 and more than 4,541.
Daily physical activity and HF risk
During a mean follow-up of 7.5 years, the researchers observed 407 cases of incident HF, of which 257 were identified as HFpEF and 110 were HFrEF.
Compared with the lowest quartile, for every 1 standard deviation (SD) increase in minutes per day of total physical activity, adjusted HRs for HF were:
- 0.85 for overall HF (95% CI, 0.75-0.95);
- 0.78 for HFpEF (95% CI, 0.67-0.91); and
- 1.02 for HFrEF (95% CI, 0.81-1.28).
Compared with the lowest quartile, for every 1 SD increase in steps per day, adjusted HRs for HF were:
- 0.74 for overall HF (95% CI, 0.63-0.88);
- 0.71 for HFpEF (95% CI, 0.57-0.88); and
- 0.83 for HFrEF (95% CI, 0.62-1.12).
Compared with the lowest quartile, for every 1 SD increase in minutes per day sedentary time, adjusted HRs for HF were:
- 1.17 for overall HF (95% CI, 1.04-1.33);
- 1.29 for HFpEF (95% CI, 1.1-1.51); and
- 0.94 for HFrEF (95% CI, 0.75-1.18).
Moreover, increased physical activity regardless of type was associated with reduced risk for overall HF (HR per 1 SD light activity = 0.88; 95% CI, 0.78-0.98; HR per 1 SD moderate to vigorous activity = 0.84; 95% CI, 0.73-0.97) and HFpEF (HR per 1 SD light activity = 0.8; 95% CI, 0.7-0.93; HR per 1 SD moderate to vigorous activity = 0.85; 95% CI, 0.72-1.01) but not HFrEF.
“In ambulatory older women, higher amounts of usual daily light- and moderate-intensity activities were associated with lower risk of developing heart failure with preserved ejection fraction independent of demographic and clinical factors associated with heart failure risk,” LaMonte said in a press release. “Accumulating 3,000 steps per day might be a reasonable target that would be consistent with the amount of daily activity performed by women in this study. ... HFpEF is the most common form of heart failure seen in older women and among racial and ethnic minority groups, and at present there are few established treatment options, which makes primary prevention all the more relevant for HFpEF. The potential for light-intensity activities of daily life to contribute to the prevention of HFpEF in older women is an exciting and promising result for future studies to evaluate in other groups, including older men.”
Reference:
- New study suggests target steps per day for reduced risk of heart failure. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1035039. Published Feb. 21, 2024. Accessed Feb. 21, 2024.
Collapse
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts