Exercise Intensity and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease
- Stuart Brody, PhD
-
Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology
University of Tübingen
Tübingen, Germany
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- aspirin
- coronary disease
- exercise
- physical fitness
To the Editor: Dr Tanasescu and colleagues1 report that some forms of apparently invigorating exercise are not associated with any reduced risk of cardiovascular events. Similarly, they found that exercise intensity may be more important than duration for reducing the risk of CHD. Although the authors attempt to explain the lack of benefit associated with more than 1 hour weekly of swimming or cycling by noting that only several hundred of the study participants were in the category claiming more than 1 hour weekly, they did not offer a similar rationale for the nonsignificant effects of jogging or racquet sports. The authors did find benefits of running and rowing more than 1 hour weekly, but the risk ratios were less impressive than those associated with walking rapidly when one chooses to walk at all.
Despite the authors' extensive statistical adjustment, the data suggest that risk of CHD may be …
