Physical activity, not where you live determines heart attack risk: study
Posted Jan 11, 2012 9:11 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Research suggests physical activity during both work and leisure time appears to significantly lower the risk of heart attack — whether you live in Canada or Colombia, in Poland or Pakistan.
The research was a Swedish analysis of a Canadian-led study of more than 29,000 people in 52 countries on six continents.
Swedish researchers said much is already known about the association between physical activity and cardiovascular risk.
But they said the study shows it’s a global risk factor to be physically inactive.
Researchers said the study shows that mild to moderate physical activity at work, and any activity during leisure time, reduces the risk of heart attack.
And that’s independent of other risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure or smoking, in people of all ages in most regions of the world.
But the researchers found that performing heavy physical labour as part of a job didn’t protect against heart attacks.
They speculate people with such jobs might work in unhealthy environments with high physical stress.
The findings, published in the European Heart Journal, come from the Interheart study led by principal investigator Dr. Salim Yusuf of McMaster University in Hamilton.
