Exercising once a week can help prolong life expectancy for people with heart disease according to a new study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway.
Patients with established coronary heart disease (CHD) are encouraged to be physically active to prevent disease progression and prolong their life expectancy. But how much exercise is required?
A study to be published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation concludes that one weekly exercise session is associated with lower all-cause mortality, both in women and men.
- The most important finding was that CHD patients lived longer even though they exercised only once a week, says Trine Moholdt a PhD student at the Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging at the Faculty of Medicine, NTNU.
The study is based on data collected in the Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT). Here, 3500 women and men with CHD were studied over an 18-year period.
Unique study
- Mortality decreased by 30 per cent among women who exercised once a week compared to those who did not exercise at all. For men the corresponding figure was 20 per cent, states Trine Moholdt.
This study is unique because it includes women and older CHD patients with heart conditions. In fact women who exercise more than 30 minutes each time can decrease mortality by up to 50 per cent.
- The more intense the exercise is, the better, Tine Moholdt adds. She hopes more cardiac patients start working out. A lot of people are apprehensive about exercise after a myocardial infarction. But it is more risky to be inactive than to do exercise.
HUNTing for data
The HUNT data, which this study is based on, is a population-based study launched in 1984 in the county of Nord-Trøndelag in mid-Norway. More than 100,000 people have participated in the study out of a total of 130,000 inhabitants in the region.