Key result
Higher leisure-time physical activity shows only weak, nonsignificant links to lower CHD risk in women.
Why the study?
The relationship between leisure-time physical activity and coronary heart disease risk factors in middle-aged Finnish women was unclear.
Does leisure-time physical activity improve risk factors for coronary heart disease in middle-aged Finnish women?
Cross-Sectional (n=4,059)
Yes
Does leisure-time physical activity improve risk factors for coronary heart disease in middle-aged Finnish women?
p-value: p=0.06
In middle-aged Finnish women, high leisure-time physical activity is only weakly related to lower coronary heart disease risk factor levels, unlike in men.
Weak association in middle-aged women does not support activity-based risk reduction; leaves open sex-specific CHD effects.
Risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) and levels of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) were measured in a random sample of 4,059 women aged 25-64 years, residing in four areas of Finland. LTPA indexed as the product of weekly exercise sessions X their usual intensity showed an inverse association with smoking (p = 0.02) and with CHD risk estimate which combines the three main risk factors, smoking, serum cholesterol and blood pressure (p = 0.06), and a positive association with HDL cholesterol (p = 0.002). It was not associated with mean arterial pressure and serum total cholesterol. In a multiple regression analysis LTPA contributed independently, though modestly, to the model for CHD risk estimate. Age and body mass index were the most important independent predictors of both mean arterial pressure and CHD risk estimate. It is concluded that in middle-aged Finnish women, unlike men of the same population, high LTPA is only weakly related to lower CHD risk factor levels.
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Marti et al. (1987) conducted a cross-sectional in Coronary Heart Disease (n=4,059). Leisure-time physical activity was evaluated on CHD risk estimate (combining smoking, serum cholesterol and blood pressure) (p=0.06). High leisure-time physical activity in middle-aged Finnish women was only weakly related to lower CHD risk factor levels, showing a modest association with a combined CHD risk estimate (p=0.06).
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