If movement fell by the wayside during the pandemic, there is yet another reason to get back on the saddle.
A study by the Cooper Institute in collaboration with researchers from Harvard and Stanford Universities shows that despite advances in modern medicine and lifestyle changes, fitness is still important in reducing all-cause deaths and heart disease.
“Despite significant advances in medicine and reductions in death rates over the past 30 years, fitness remains just as important as it was in the first study,” said Steve Farrell, Ph.D., lead researcher at the Cooper Institute and lead author on the study.
“Given the significant mental and physical challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to adhere to current physical activity guidelines,” added Farrell.
This study looked at nearly 48,000 men over 50 years who had completed all baseline exams and a maximum treadmill exercise test at the Cooper Clinic.
The men were divided into two chronological groups based on changes in health care, including statin use and advances in cardiovascular interventions such as thrombolytics and stents, which became more common in the early 1990s.
Men from both groups were rated as Low Fit, Moderate Fit, or High Fit based on their test results for the treadmill and their age group.
Compared to men with low fitness, men in both groups showed that high and moderate fitness significantly reduced the overall mortality risk:
- High fitness reduced group mortality by 47% between 1970 and 1991.
- High fitness reduced group mortality by 48% between 1992 and 2014.
Over the past 50 years, advances in modern medicine have helped people live longer by identifying and treating risk factors for heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
The 1989 study by the Cooper Center Longitudinal Study showed strong and inverse relationships between fitness and mortality.
While the original 1992 study led the American Heart Association to add physical inactivity as a modifiable risk factor for heart disease, the new study adds another 25 years of patient information to examine whether modern medicine negates the importance of fitness.
