Does a physical-conditioning program alter fibrinolytic activity to protect against cardiovascular disease?
This editorial highlights that exercise may protect against cardiovascular disease by modulating fibrinolytic activity, providing physiologic evidence for its benefits.
Williams and his associates report in this issue that a physical-conditioning program decreased fibrinolytic activity at rest and augmented the rise in fibrinolysis induced by experimental venous occlusion. They suggest that this effect of exercise may be an important mechanism by which habitual exertion protects against cardiovascular disease. Their study is one of a number of investigations that bolster with physiologic evidence the so-called "circumstantial" case for exercise as an essential protective element in human health. As they point out, if intravascular thrombus formation is implicated in the pathophysiology of myocardial infarction, stroke, and pulmonary embolism, exercise protects against these . . .
Paffenbarger et al. (Thu,) studied this question.