Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Exercise is Vital in Elderly



A study by Koohass et al published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology reports that exercise contributes immensely in the protection of the cardiovascular system.

The investigators followed a cohort of 5,344 for15-years (median 10 years).  Their ages ranged between 55 and 97, and none of the participants had heart disease at the beginning of the study.  During the study period 866 (16.2%) of the participants experienced a cardiovascular (CVD) event. Overweight and obese participants with low physical activity had a higher CVD risk than normal weight participants with high physical activity. Overweight and obese participants with high physical activity did not show a higher CVD risk.

Their findings suggest that there is no link between the body mass index (BMI) alone and heart disease, but found that physical activity was tied to a lower risk of heart disease, regardless of BMI.

The authors concluded that physical activity has a beneficial impact of on our cardiovascular system and outweighs the negative impact of BMI among middle-aged and elderly individuals.