Associations of Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Sedentary Time with the Risk of Stroke, Myocardial Infarction or All-Cause Mortality in 70-Year-Old Men and Women: A Prospective Cohort Study

• Published in: Sports medicine (Auckland) Vol. 51; no. 2; pp. 339 - 349
• Main Authors: Ballin, Marcel, Nordström, Peter, Niklasson, Johan, Nordström, Anna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-02-2021; Springer Nature B.V; Springer
• Subjects: Accelerometers; Aging; Blood pressure; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Cerebral infarction; Cohort analysis; Exercise; Heart attacks; Idrettsmedisinske fag: 850; Lifestyles; Medical disciplines: 700; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Medisinske Fag: 700; Mortality; Myocardial infarction; Older people; Original; Original Research Article; Physical activity; Population; Sedentary behavior; Sports Medicine; Sports medicine: 850; Stroke; VDP; Womens health; United States > US; Sweden
• ISSN: 0112-1642; 1179-2035; 1179-2035
• DOI: 10.1007/s40279-020-01356-y

Objective
To study the associations of objectively measured physical activity (PA) and sedentary time (ST) with the combined outcome of incident stroke, myocardial infarction (MI) or all-cause mortality in older adults.
Methods
N
 = 3343 men and women aged 70 who participated in a health survey between 2012 and 2017 were included. Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers were used to measure light-intensity PA (LPA), moderate-intensity PA (MPA) and ST for 1 week. Incident cases of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in terms of stroke or MI, and all-cause mortality were identified using national registers. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using multivariable-adjusted Cox regressions.
Results
During a mean follow-up of 2.7 years (0.1–5.6), there were 124 events of CVD or all-cause mortality. After adjusting for potential confounders and mediators, every 30-min/day increment in LPA was associated with 11% lower risk of CVD or all-cause mortality (HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.82–0.97), and every 30-min/day increment in MPA was associated with 36% lower risk (HR 0.64, 95% CI 0.48–0.84). Every 1-h/day increment in ST increased the risk of the outcomes by 33% (HR 1.33, 95% CI 1.14–1.56), although there was no significant association among participants who performed ≥ 30 min/day MPA (HR 1.11, 95% CI 0.82–1.50,
P
 = 0.034 for interaction). None of the associations were modified by sex (
P
 > 0.4 for all).
Conclusion
Objectively measured LPA and MPA are each associated with lower risk of stroke, MI or all-cause mortality in 70-year-old individuals, while ST is associated with increased risk. The greatest risk reduction is observed for MPA, which also appears to attenuate some of the increased risks associated with ST.