Does physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness reduce the risk of coronary heart disease?
This review reinforces the well-accepted protective effect of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness against coronary heart disease.
Epidemiologic evidence is presented on the now well-accepted contributions of physical inactivity and reduced cardiorespiratory fitness to risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), the principal cause of death and disability in the United States and other Western industrialized nations. The types and dose of physical activity to reduce risk of CHD and plausible biologic mechanisms for the partial protective effect are also reviewed.
Leon et al. (Tue,) studied this question.